Slova
Exhaust is pronounced ig-ZAHST in American English and ig-ZAWST in British English. It has two syllables with the stress on the second. The x sounds like gz and the H is silent.
exhaust
verb and noun · to make someone very tired; the gas that comes out of an engine, or the pipe it comes through
Also said: US /ɪɡˈzɔːst/.
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford gives /ɪɡˈzɔːst/ (ig-ZAWST) for American English too. The recording is American English.
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/ɪɡˈzɑːst/
ig
ZAHSTstressed
UK British English/ɪɡˈzɔːst/
ig
ZAWSTstressed
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes exhaust, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. Start the second syllable with Z: ig-ZAWST. The H is silent.
Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.
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exhaust
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What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say ig-ZAHST.
Noteks-HAWST
Saying ks and the H. In exhaust the H is silent and the x is gz: ig-ZAWST.
Notig-ZOWST
Reading au as in German or Spanish. The vowel is the aw in law, or the ah in father in many US accents.
Notig-ZAWS
Dropping the final T. Finish with a clear st, as in lost.
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
The long walk will exhaust the children.
Black smoke came out of the car's exhaust.
We must not exhaust our water supply.
Exhaust comes from Latin exhaustus, from ex, out, and haurire, to draw water. In English the H after ex- has gone quiet in this word, so the ex- runs straight into the vowel.
That matters for the X. When ex- comes right before a stressed vowel, English usually says it as gz, not ks: exam, exact, exist. Exhaust follows the same rule, and so does exhibit. Not every exh- word does: in exhale the H is said.
Many Americans use the ah of father, and Oxford also gives the aw vowel for American English. Either way, say ig, then ZAHST or ZAWST.
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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