Christmas
noun · the Christian holiday on 25 December that celebrates the birth of Jesus
- KRISkrɪs (stressed)
- musməs
- KRISkrɪs (stressed)
- musməs
- US /ˈkrɪs.məs/KRIS-mus Recorded voice
- UK /ˈkrɪs.məs/KRIS-mus Your device’s voice
How to pronounce Christmas
Christmas is pronounced KRIS-mus in both American and British English. It has two syllables with the stress on the first. The ch is a K sound, the T is silent, and the i is short.
- 2 syllables
- Stress on KRIS
- Sounds like Chris
- Checked in Cambridge and Oxford
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.
Christmas, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
USUK American and British English/ˈkrɪs.məs/
KRISstressed
- /k/as in cat
- /r/as in red
- /ɪ/as in sit
- /s/as in see
mus
- /m/as in man
- /ə/as in about
- /s/as in see
Say Christmas yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes Christmas, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. Start with KRIS, like the name Chris. Short i, and no T.
Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.
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Christmas
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Common Christmas pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say KRIS-mus.
Not
KRIST-masSaying the T and a full mass. Drop the T and make the last syllable weak: mus.
Not
CHRIS-musReading ch as in church. In Christmas, ch is a K sound.
Not
KRYST-musUsing the long vowel of Christ. The i in Christmas is short, as in kiss.
Christmas in a sentence
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
We spend Christmas with my parents every year.
Are you going home for Christmas?
The shops get very busy in the weeks before Christmas.
Why don't you say Christ in Christmas?
The word began as Old English Cristes mæsse, Christ's mass. Over many centuries it became one word, and every part of it got shorter.
Three things change. The long vowel of Christ (KRYST) becomes the short i of Chris. The T between S and M drops out, since that cluster is hard to say. And mass weakens to mus, the way unstressed syllables often do in English.
The ch spelling comes from Greek and is said as K, as in chorus and chemistry. Say Chris and then a quick mus.
Words that sound like Christmas
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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