squirrel
noun · a small animal with a long, thick tail that lives in trees and eats nuts
- SKWURskwɝː (stressed)
- uləl
- SKWIRskwɪr (stressed)
- uləl
- US /ˈskwɝː.əl/SKWUR-ul Recorded voice
- UK /ˈskwɪr.əl/SKWIR-ul Your device’s voice
How to pronounce squirrel
Squirrel is pronounced SKWUR-ul in American English and SKWIR-ul in British English, with the stress on the first syllable. Americans use the vowel of fur and often say it almost as one syllable. British speakers use the short i of sit, followed by an r.
- 2 syllables
- Stress on SKWUR
- 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.
Squirrel, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/ˈskwɝː.əl/
SKWURstressed
- /s/as in see
- /k/as in cat
- /w/as in wet
- /ɝː/as in bird (US)
ul
- /ə/as in about
- /l/as in leg
UK British English/ˈskwɪr.əl/
SKWIRstressed
- /s/as in see
- /k/as in cat
- /w/as in wet
- /ɪ/as in sit
- /r/as in red
ul
- /ə/as in about
- /l/as in leg
Say squirrel yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes squirrel, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. Say s, k and w fast, lips rounded for w. Then UR as in fur (US), or the short i of sit plus r (UK).
Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.
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Common squirrel pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say SKWUR-ul.
Not
SKVUR-ulSaying v instead of w, as German and Russian speakers often do. Round your lips for w and keep your teeth off your lip.
Not
SKWEE-rulSaying the i as ee. Use the vowel of fur (US) or the short i of sit (UK).
Not
skwi-RELStressing the second syllable and saying a clear el. Stress the first and keep ul short.
Squirrel 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.
A squirrel was burying nuts in the garden.
We saw a red squirrel in the forest.
The squirrel jumped from branch to branch.
Why is squirrel so hard to say?
The word starts with three consonants, s, k and w, and then needs an r and an l close together. Many languages do not have this mix, so learners often add vowels or change the w to v.
Squirrel came into English from Anglo-French esquirel, from a Latin word that goes back to the Greek skiouros. That Greek name is traditionally explained as shadow-tail, from skia, shadow, and oura, tail: an animal that sits in the shade of its own tail.
The two accents differ in the vowel. American English uses the ur of fur, and many Americans run the word into one syllable, close to SKWURL. British English uses the short i of sit, then an r that starts the second syllable: SKWIR-ul.
Words that sound like squirrel
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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