February
noun · the second month of the year
- FEBfeb (stressed)
- rooruː
- airer
- eei
- FEBfeb (stressed)
- rooru
- uhər
- reei
- US /ˈfeb.ruː.er.i/FEB-roo-air-ee Recorded voice
- UK /ˈfeb.ru.ər.i/FEB-roo-uh-ree Your device’s voice
How to pronounce February
February is pronounced FEB-roo-air-ee in American English and FEB-roo-uh-ree in British English. It has four syllables with the stress on the first. Many speakers say FEB-yoo-air-ee, without the first R.
- 4 syllables
- Stress on FEB
- US and UK IPA
- Checked in Cambridge and Oxford
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.
February, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/ˈfeb.ruː.er.i/
FEBstressed
- /f/as in fall
- /e/as in bed
- /b/as in bad
roo
- /r/as in red
- /uː/as in too
air
- /e/as in bed
- /r/as in red
ee
- /i/as in happy
UK British English/ˈfeb.ru.ər.i/
FEBstressed
- /f/as in fall
- /e/as in bed
- /b/as in bad
roo
- /r/as in red
- /u/as in situation
uh
- /ə/as in about
- /r/as in red
ree
- /i/as in happy
Say February yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes February, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. The second syllable is roo, with an R. Many people say yoo here; both are heard.
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February
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Common February pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say FEB-roo-air-ee.
Not
feb-ROO-air-eeStressing the second syllable. The stress is always on FEB.
Not
FEB-roo-AR-eeReading ary like the ar in car. Say air-ee in American English and uh-ree in British English.
Not
FEB-roo-reeLosing a syllable in careful speech. Say all four: FEB-roo-air-ee (US) or FEB-roo-uh-ree (UK).
February 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.
February is the shortest month of the year.
We moved into this flat in February 2021.
It often snows here in February.
Why do people say Febuary?
The spelling has two R sounds close together: Feb-R-u-a-R-y. Saying R twice in a row is hard, so many speakers turn the first R into a Y sound: FEB-yoo-air-ee. The result also sounds like January, which really has a Y.
This form is very common, especially in American English. Cambridge and Oxford list only the form with R, so that is the one we show first. Both are understood everywhere.
The spelling itself was a choice. Middle English had a form taken from Old French feverier, with no R after the B. Writers later went back to the Latin name Februarius, and the R after B came with it.
If you want the dictionary form, say FEB, then roo with a light R, then the rest.
Words that sound like February
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
Say words like February out loud with Slova
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