guitar
noun · a musical instrument, usually with 6 strings, that you play with your fingers
- gihɡɪ
- TARtɑːr (stressed)
- gihɡɪ
- TAHtɑː (stressed)
- US /ɡɪˈtɑːr/gih-TAR Recorded voice
- UK /ɡɪˈtɑː/gih-TAH Your device’s voice
How to pronounce guitar
Guitar is pronounced gih-TAR in American English and gih-TAH in British English. It has two syllables with the stress on the second. The U is silent and the G is hard, as in give.
- 2 syllables
- Stress on TAR
- 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.
Guitar, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/ɡɪˈtɑːr/
gih
- /ɡ/as in get
- /ɪ/as in sit
TARstressed
- /t/as in tea
- /ɑː/as in father
- /r/as in red
UK British English/ɡɪˈtɑː/
gih
- /ɡ/as in get
- /ɪ/as in sit
TAHstressed
- /t/as in tea
- /ɑː/as in father
Say guitar yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes guitar, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. Start with a hard G, as in give. The U is silent: gih, not gwih.
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Common guitar pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say gih-TAR.
Not
gwih-TARSaying the U as a w, as in penguin. Here the U is silent.
Not
jih-TARUsing a soft G, as in gin. The U is there to keep the G hard.
Not
GIH-tarStressing the first syllable. Some Southern US speakers do, but the usual stress is on TAR.
Guitar 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.
She taught herself to play the guitar.
I bought a new electric guitar.
Can you help me tune my guitar?
Why is there a u in guitar?
The U has a job: it keeps the G hard. Before i and e, a G often sounds like J, as in giant and gem. Writing gu stops that, so guitar starts like give, not like gin. Guess, guest and guide work the same way.
English took guitar from Spanish guitarra, which uses the same gu spelling for a hard G. The Spanish word goes back through Arabic to Greek kithara.
Stress the second syllable. American English says the R at the end. British English does not, so the word ends on the long ah.
Words that sound like guitar
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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