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Paella is pronounced pah-YEL-uh in American English and pie-EL-uh in British English. It has three syllables with the stress on the second. In Spanish ll sounds like y.
paella
noun · a Spanish rice dish cooked in a wide pan with seafood, meat and vegetables
Also said: US /paɪˈel.ə/.
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Cambridge gives pah-YEL-uh for American English; Oxford gives pie-EL-uh 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/pɑːˈjel.ə/
pah
YELstressed
uh
UK British English/paɪˈel.ə/
pie
ELstressed
uh
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes paella, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. Stress the middle: pah-YEL-uh (US) or pie-EL-uh (UK). In Spanish the ll sounds like y.
Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.
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paella
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What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say pah-YEL-uh.
Notpay-EL-uh
Reading the first a as in day. It is pah or pie.
NotPAY-ell-uh
Stressing the first syllable. The stress is on the second.
Notpah-LAY-uh
Saying l and ay. The ll in Spanish is y, and the stress is on EL.
Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.
We ordered paella with seafood and rice.
Paella is cooked in a very wide pan.
My aunt makes the best paella in Spain.
Paella is Spanish, and in Spanish ll sounds like y, so the middle of the word is yel. American dictionaries show pah-YEL-uh. British dictionaries show pie-EL-uh, with an eye sound at the start. Both put the stress on the second syllable.
The word came into Spanish from Catalan paella, from Old French paelle, which came from Latin patella, a small pan. So paella is named for the pan it is cooked in. The same Latin word gave English patella, the kneecap.
The first syllable is the one that changes. Say pah or pie, then land on EL, and end in a light uh. Do not say pay-EL-uh.
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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