Slova
Isthmus is usually pronounced IS-mus, with two syllables and the stress on the first. The th is silent, so it rhymes with Christmas. Cambridge also lists ISTH-mus, with the th, for both American and British English.
isthmus
noun · a narrow strip of land with sea on both sides, joining two larger areas of land
Also said: US /ˈɪsθ.məs/; UK /ˈɪsθ.məs/.
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Cambridge's main entry gives ISTH-mus, with the th. Oxford and Cambridge's American dictionary give IS-mus. The recording is American English.
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
USUK American and British English/ˈɪs.məs/
ISstressed
mus
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes isthmus, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. The th is usually silent: IS-mus, like the start of Christmas. ISTH-mus, with the th, is also correct.
Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.
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isthmus
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What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say IS-mus.
NotIST-mus
Turning th into a t. Either drop the th completely, IS-mus, or say a real th with your tongue between your teeth.
NotIS-thuh-mus
Adding a vowel to break up sthm. The word has only two syllables: IS-mus.
NotITH-mus
Dropping the s and keeping the th. The s is always said: IS-mus or ISTH-mus.
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
Panama sits on an isthmus between two oceans.
A thin isthmus joins the island to the mainland.
The Isthmus of Corinth links two parts of Greece.
Usually, yes. Isthmus comes through Latin from the Greek isthmos, a neck or narrow passage. For the Greeks, the Isthmus was the narrow neck of land at Corinth that joins the Peloponnese to the rest of Greece.
The letters sthm make a hard cluster: s, th and m with no vowel between them. Most speakers simply drop the th, as they do in asthma. Oxford lists only IS-mus, and so does Cambridge's American dictionary.
Cambridge's main entry gives ISTH-mus, with the th, so that form is correct as well. If you are unsure, say IS-mus. It is easier, and it is the form both dictionaries accept.
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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