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How to pronounce rhythm

Rhythm is pronounced RITH-um, with two syllables and the stress on the first. The rh is just R, the y is a short i, and th is the soft sound of this. American and British English agree.

Say it yourself
  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on RITH
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

rhythm

Two syllables, stress on the first

noun · a regular pattern of sounds or beats in music, speech or movement

  1. RITHrɪð (stressed)
  2. uməm
  • US /ˈrɪð.əm/RITH-um Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈrɪð.əm/RITH-um Your device’s voice

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

Rhythm, sound by sound

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

USUK American and British English/ˈrɪð.əm/

  1. RITHstressed

    • /r/as in red
    • /ɪ/as in sit
    • /ð/as in this

  2. um

    • /ə/as in about
    • /m/as in man

Say rhythm yourself

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

Tip. Two syllables: RITH-um. The rh is only R, and th is the soft sound of this.

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

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rhythm

    Common rhythm pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say RITH-um.

    • NotRY-thum

      Reading y as in my. In rhythm it is the short i of sit.

    • NotRIT-um

      Turning th into t. Put the tongue tip between your teeth and let the voice buzz.

    • Notrih-THUM

      Stressing the second syllable. The stress is on the first: RITH-um.

    Rhythm 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.

    • I love the rhythm of this song.

    • The drums keep a steady rhythm.

    • It took me a week to find my rhythm at work.

    How many syllables are in rhythm?

    Two. Rhythm has no vowel letter between th and m, so it looks like one syllable, but the m carries a light uh in front of it: RITH-um.

    The spelling comes from Greek. The word was coined in English in the 1500s from Latin rhythmus, which came from Greek rhythmos, from a verb meaning to flow. Greek words with rh and y keep that spelling in English: rhyme, rhubarb and rhythm.

    In rhythm, rh is just R, y is a short i as in sit, and th is the voiced sound, as in this and mother. Put your tongue between your teeth and keep your voice on.

    Words that sound like rhythm

    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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