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How to pronounce honest

Honest is pronounced AH-nist in American English and ON-ist in British English. It has two syllables with the stress on the first, and the h is silent. It starts with a vowel sound.

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  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on AH
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

honest

Two syllables, stress on the first

adjective · telling the truth; not cheating or lying

  1. AHɑː (stressed)
  2. nistnɪst
  • US /ˈɑː.nɪst/AH-nist Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈɒn.ɪst/ON-ist Your device’s voice

IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.

Honest, sound by sound

Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.

US American English/ˈɑː.nɪst/

  1. AHstressed

    • /ɑː/as in father

  2. nist

    • /n/as in now
    • /ɪ/as in sit
    • /s/as in see
    • /t/as in tea

UK British English/ˈɒn.ɪst/

  1. ONstressed

    • /ɒ/as in hot (UK)
    • /n/as in now

  2. ist

    • /ɪ/as in sit
    • /s/as in see
    • /t/as in tea

Say honest yourself

Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes honest, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.

Tip. The h is silent. Say AH-nist (US) or ON-ist (UK), so it starts with a vowel.

Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.

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honest

    Common honest pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say AH-nist.

    • NotHON-ist

      Saying the h. Start with the vowel, with no breath in front.

    • NotHOH-nist

      Using the oh of go. The vowel is ah (US) or the o of hot (UK).

    • Noton-EST

      Stressing the second syllable. The stress is on the first.

    Honest 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.

    • Thank you for being so honest with me.

    • She is an honest, hard-working person.

    • To be honest, I did not like the film.

    Is the h in honest silent?

    Yes. Honest begins with a vowel sound, so we say an honest person, not a honest person. The word came into English from Old French honeste, and in French the h was already silent.

    The silent h is a small group of French words: honest, honor, hour and heir. Most other h words keep the h, such as hot and house. The reason is that the French spelling arrived with the French pronunciation.

    Say the first vowel clearly and begin with no breath at all. In American English it is the ah of father, and in British English the o of hot. The last syllable is a weak ist.

    Words that sound like honest

    Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.

    More words with silent letters

    All 170 difficult words

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