rural
adjective · in or to do with the countryside, not towns or cities
- ROORrʊr (stressed)
- uləl
- ROORrʊə (stressed)
- ulrəl
- US /ˈrʊr.əl/ROOR-ul Recorded voice
- UK /ˈrʊə.rəl/ROOR-ul Your device’s voice
How to pronounce rural
Rural is pronounced ROOR-ul, with two syllables and the stress on the first. It has two r sounds close together, followed by an l, which makes it hard even for native speakers. American and British English say it almost the same way.
- 2 syllables
- Stress on ROOR
- US and UK IPA
- Checked in Cambridge and Oxford
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.
Rural, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/ˈrʊr.əl/
ROORstressed
- /r/as in red
- /ʊ/as in put
- /r/as in red
ul
- /ə/as in about
- /l/as in leg
UK British English/ˈrʊə.rəl/
ROORstressed
- /r/as in red
- /ʊə/as in pure (UK)
ul
- /r/as in red
- /ə/as in about
- /l/as in leg
Say rural yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes rural, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. The end is a short ul, straight after the second r. Say it slowly, ROOR, then ul, and speed up.
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Common rural pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say ROOR-ul.
Not
roo-RAHLStressing the end and saying a full a, as in Spanish or French rural. Stress ROOR and keep ul short.
Not
LOO-rulStarting with an l sound. For r, pull your tongue back so that the tip touches nothing.
Not
ROOLLosing the second r and squeezing the word into one syllable. Say two: ROOR-ul.
Rural 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.
We moved to a small rural village.
Rural areas often have slower internet.
Many rural schools have fewer than fifty pupils.
Why is rural so hard to say?
Rural packs an r, a vowel, another r, a weak vowel and an l into two short syllables. For r, the tongue pulls back and touches nothing. For l, the tip of the tongue touches the ridge behind the top teeth. Switching between them fast is hard.
The word came into English from Old French rural, from the Latin ruralis, from rus, the countryside. Rustic comes from the same Latin word.
Practise it slowly, ROOR, then ul, and speed up until the two parts join. Saying plural first can help, because rural rhymes with it.
Words that sound like rural
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
Say words like rural out loud with Slova
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