Slova
Mischievous is pronounced MIS-chuh-vus in American English and MIS-chih-vus in British English. It has three syllables with the stress on the first. A common mistake is to add a fourth syllable, mis-CHEE-vee-us, but the spelling has no i after the v.
mischievous
adjective · liking to cause small trouble or play tricks, in a playful way
Also said: US /ˈmɪs.tʃɪ.vəs/.
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford gives MIS-chih-vus for both accents. The recording is American English.
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/ˈmɪs.tʃə.vəs/
MISstressed
chuh
vus
UK British English/ˈmɪs.tʃɪ.vəs/
MISstressed
chih
vus
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes mischievous, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. End with vus. There is no ee before it: three syllables, not mis-CHEE-vee-us.
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mischievous
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What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say MIS-chuh-vus.
Notmis-CHEE-vee-us
Adding an ee syllable and moving the stress. There is no i after the v: say MIS-chuh-vus.
Notmis-CHEE-vus
Stressing chie, as in achieve. Put the beat on MIS and keep the middle weak.
NotMIS-chee-vus
Saying ie as a long ee. The middle vowel is short and weak: chuh (US) or chih (UK).
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
He gave me a mischievous grin.
Our cat is mischievous and knocks things off tables.
The twins have a mischievous sense of humour.
Mischievous is built from mischief, MIS-chif, plus the ending -ous. Mischief came from Old French meschief, a misfortune, and at first mischievous meant harmful or unlucky. The playful meaning came much later.
The stress stays where it is in mischief, on MIS. The ie is just a weak vowel, and -vous rhymes with the end of nervous. That gives three syllables: MIS-chuh-vus.
The four-syllable form, mis-CHEE-vee-us, has been around for centuries, and some people even spell the word mischievious. Most dictionaries still treat it as nonstandard. Cambridge and Oxford list only the three-syllable form.
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
In Slova you say new words out loud in every lesson, at your level, in lessons built around what you love.