3 syllables: an, swer, ing. Stress on an.
AN-sur-ing
/ˈænsɚɪŋ/
answering is pronounced AN-sur-ing (/ˈænsɚɪŋ/). It has three syllables (an-swer-ing), with the stress on "an". Answering is the present-participle form of the verb answer, meaning to respond or reply to a question or request. It describes the act of giving an answer, often during a conversation, interview, or problem-solving scenario. The word emphasizes the ongoing action of providing a response rather than a finished reply.
Answering is the present-participle form of the verb answer, meaning to respond or reply to a question or request. It describes the act of giving an answer, often during a conversation, interview, or problem-solving scenario. The word emphasizes the ongoing action of providing a response rather than a finished reply.
"She was answering the phone when I called."
"The crowd kept cheering while the team was answering questions in the press conference."
"He handed in his assignment and started answering comments from the teacher."
Pronounce as three syllables: /ˈæn.sɚ.ɪŋ/ in US; /ˈæns.ər.ɪŋ/ in a careful UK reading variant. The primary stress is on the first syllable. Begin with /æ/ as in cat, then /n/ and a light /s/ blend to /sɚ/ (the ‘er’ can be a rhotacized schwa). End with /ɪŋ/. In connected speech, the middle syllable can sound like /ɚ/ (schwa with rhoticity) and the final /ɪŋ/ remains. Visualize your mouth: open wide for /æ/, place tongue high-mid for /ɚ/, and finish with a tip of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge for the /ŋ/. Audio reference: you can compare with recordings on Pronounce or Forvo for native charging/phone contexts.
Two frequent errors: 1) Dropping the middle vowel: saying /ˈænsɪŋ/ or /ˈæn.sɪŋ/—lose the /ɚ/ or /ər/ sound. Correction: keep a light /ɚ/ middle syllable: /ˈæn.sɚ.ɪŋ/. 2) Misplacing stress, sounding like /ˈænsərɪŋ/ with reduced first-stress or flattening to /ænˈsɚɪŋ/. Correction: maintain clear first-syllable stress: /ˈæn.sɚ.ɪŋ/. Also be mindful of the final /ŋ/ nasal; avoid voiceless obstruants preceding it—keep a clean velar nasal. Practice with minimal pairs to sharpen these transitions.
In US English, the second syllable often has a rhotacized /ɚ/, giving /ˈæn.sɚ.ɪŋ/ with clear /æ/ in the first vowel. UK tends toward /ˈæns.ə.rɪŋ/ with less rhoticity in some accents and a shorter /ə/ or /ɜː/ for the second syllable; the /r/ can be less pronounced. Australian tends to unify vowels toward a rounded /æ/ and may reduce the second syllable further, but still preserve /ɪŋ/ at the end. Across dialects, the key differences are rhoticity of the second syllable and vowel quality in the second, with US often rhotic, UK variable, AU non-rhotic or weakly rhotic depending on speaker.
Here the challenge is the multi-syllabic rhythm: three syllables with a fast transition from a stressed /æn/ to a rhotacized /ɚ/ and then a capped /-ɪŋ/. The middle syllable often hesitates due to /ɚ/ blending and the /s/ preceding /ɪŋ/ can cause subtle sibilant shaping. The tongue must move quickly from a front open vowel to a mid-central rhotic vowel, then into a velar nasal. Paying attention to the exact tongue height, lip rounding, and the ventricle flow will help you land the correct sequence.
A distinctive feature is the strong tri-syllabic rhythm in everyday speech, reinforced by a prominent first-syllable stress and a rhotacized mid-syllable in many dialects. The /ɚ/ in the middle can be a bit tricky with non-rhotic accents, where you may hear a breathy or reduced middle vowel. Learners should practice keeping the /æ/ crisp, the /n/ clear, the /s/ clean, and the final /ɪŋ/ steady, ensuring the middle vowel doesn’t collapse into /ə/ or /ɪ/ without the tongue settling.
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Answering derives from the verb answer, with the -ing suffix creating the present participle / gerund form. The verb answer comes from Old English and is related to the Proto-Germanic *and-swaraną, linked to the concept of giving or supplying a response. The sense of “to respond” broadened in Middle English to include replying to questions, demands, or accusations. The participle form answering appears in Early Modern English as a natural extension of the continuous aspect, used to describe ongoing action (e.g., answering the door, answering the call). Over centuries, answering also took on metaphorical senses (answering a need, answering a call) that emphasize providing a response to a situation or request. The word’s core idea — to provide an answer or response — has remained stable, but usage broadened to encompass both literal verbal replies and figurative resolutions or satisfactions of inquiries. First known uses appear in texts referencing ongoing actions, with the -ing participle becoming common in the 15th-16th centuries as English grammar evolved toward more nuanced verb forms. Modern usage: present participle in continuous tenses, participial adjectives (an answering machine as well as answering questions).
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "answering" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "answering"
-ing sounds
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