lettuce
noun · a plant with large green leaves that are eaten raw, especially in salads
- LETlet̬ (stressed)
- isɪs
- LETlet (stressed)
- isɪs
- US /ˈlet̬.ɪs/LET-is Recorded voice
- UK /ˈlet.ɪs/LET-is Your device’s voice
Also said: US /ˈlet̬.əs/.
How to pronounce lettuce
Lettuce is pronounced LET-is, with two syllables and the stress on the first. The ending -uce is a short is, never use or loose. In American English the double t is a quick, soft tap, so it can sound close to LED-is.
- 2 syllables
- Stress on LET
- US and UK IPA
- Checked in Cambridge and Oxford
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Cambridge also lists /ˈlet̬.əs/ for American English. The recording is American English.
Lettuce, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/ˈlet̬.ɪs/
LETstressed
- /l/as in leg
- /e/as in bed
- /t̬/as in water (US)
is
- /ɪ/as in sit
- /s/as in see
UK British English/ˈlet.ɪs/
LETstressed
- /l/as in leg
- /e/as in bed
- /t/as in tea
is
- /ɪ/as in sit
- /s/as in see
Say lettuce yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes lettuce, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. It ends in is, as in this. Don't read -uce like use.
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lettuce
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Common lettuce pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say LET-is.
Not
let-YOOSReading -uce like use. The ending is weak: is.
Not
LET-oosGiving the u a full oo. It is a short is or us.
Not
luh-TOOSStressing the second syllable. Put the beat on LET.
Lettuce 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.
Add some lettuce and tomato to the sandwich.
I grow lettuce in a box on my balcony.
This lettuce is fresh from the market.
Why does lettuce end in -is and not -use?
The ending -uce is unstressed, so it shrinks to a short is or us. Cambridge and Oxford give LET-is, and Cambridge also lists LET-us for American English. The same weak ending is in palace, menace and furnace.
The word came into English as letuse, probably from the Old French plural laitues. The French word goes back to the Latin lactuca, from lac, milk, named for the milky juice in the stems.
Reading the end as YOOS, like use, is a spelling pronunciation that the dictionaries do not list. Put the stress on LET and make the second syllable as short as you can.
Words that sound like lettuce
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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