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How to pronounce women

Women is pronounced WIM-in, with the same first vowel as win and swim. It has two syllables with the stress on the first. The singular woman is different, WOOM-un: the first vowel changes from the oo of good to the i of win.

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

women

Two syllables, stress on the first

noun · the plural of woman: adult female people

  1. WIMwɪm (stressed)
  2. inɪn
  • US /ˈwɪm.ɪn/WIM-in Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈwɪm.ɪn/WIM-in Your device’s voice

Also said: US /ˈwɪm.ən/.

IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Cambridge also lists /ˈwɪm.ən/ for American English. Oxford gives women under woman. The recording is American English.

Women, sound by sound

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

USUK American and British English/ˈwɪm.ɪn/

  1. WIMstressed

    • /w/as in wet
    • /ɪ/as in sit
    • /m/as in man

  2. in

    • /ɪ/as in sit
    • /n/as in now

Say women yourself

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

Tip. The o in women sounds like the i in win. Say WIM, not WOM.

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

Say it

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women

    Common women pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say WIM-in.

    • NotWOOM-un

      Using the singular for the plural. If you mean more than one, change the first vowel: WIM.

    • NotWOH-men

      Reading the o as in go. The first syllable is WIM, as in swim.

    • Notwim-MEN

      Saying the end as the word men, with stress. Keep it short and weak: in.

    Women 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.

    • Three women won prizes this year.

    • The women's team plays on Saturday.

    • Many women in my family are teachers.

    Why does the o in women sound like i?

    Women started as a compound. Old English had wīfmenn, from wīf, female (our word wife), and menn, people. Over the centuries the word wore down to wimmen, and the i sound of wīf stayed in the first syllable.

    The singular went its own way and became woman, with the oo of good. The plural was then spelled with an o to match the singular, but speech kept the old i. So one letter in the spelling hides a different vowel.

    The pair differs in the first syllable: WOOM-un for one, WIM-in for more than one. Practise them side by side until the change feels natural.

    Words that sound like women

    Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.

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