2 syllables: as, sign. Stress on sign.
uh-SEYEN
/əˈsaɪn/
assign is pronounced uh-SEYEN (/əˈsaɪn/). It has two syllables (as-sign), with the stress on "sign". Assign means to designate or allocate something to a person, group, or purpose. It can also refer to tasking someone with responsibility or linking a parameter to a value in analysis. In many contexts it implies formal assignment or ascribing a role, duty, or piece of work. The term often appears in business, academia, and programming.
Assign means to designate or allocate something to a person, group, or purpose. It can also refer to tasking someone with responsibility or linking a parameter to a value in analysis. In many contexts it implies formal assignment or ascribing a role, duty, or piece of work. The term often appears in business, academia, and programming.
- You may misplace the stress, saying AY-sign instead of a-SIGN. Solution: practice clapping on the second syllable: a-SIGN. - The /aɪ/ diphthong might become a pure /a/ or /ɪ/. Solution: practice the rising diphthong, starting with an open mouth on /a/ and gliding toward a higher tongue position for /ɪ/. - The final /n/ can be swallowed in fast speech, or nasalization blends with the previous vowel. Solution: hold the /n/ cleanly, use a light contact between tongue tip and alveolar ridge, and avoid yawning or nasal tone on the preceding vowel.
"The manager will assign the tasks to the team before lunch."
"In the contract, the parties assign liability to the manufacturer."
"You can assign a value to the variable in the code."
Pronounce it as ə-SYNE with the stress on the second syllable. IPA: US/UK/AU: /əˈsaɪn/. Begin with a schwa in the first syllable, then a strong diphthong /aɪ/ in the second, followed by /n/. Mouth: relax lips, open slightly for schwa, then raise the tongue high and forward for /aɪ/ before closing with /n/. This is a two-syllable word with clear syllable boundary between /ə/ and /saɪn/.
Common mistakes include stressing the wrong syllable (AY-syn vs. a-SIGN), misproducing the diphthong as a pure /a/ or /ɪ/ (treating it as /æ/ or /ɪ/), and dropping the final /n/ in rapid speech. To correct: keep stress on the second syllable, articulate /aɪ/ clearly as a rising diphthong starting from /a/ toward /ɪ/, and finish with the alveolar nasal /n/ without nasalizing too early. Slow pronunciation helps you notice the boundary and ensures the final /n/ is audible.
In US/UK/AU, the core is /əˈsaɪn/ with rhoticity affecting only surrounding vowels in connected speech; the /ˈsaɪn/ part remains the same. In fast speech, some speakers reduce the first syllable more, sounding like /ə-saɪn/. In some Australian speech patterns, the /ɪ/ in the diphthong might be slightly shorter, but the accent still preserves the /aɪ/ diphthong clearly. The main variation is intonation and rhythm, not core phonemes.
The difficulty centers on the two-syllable structure with a clear secondary stress pattern, and the diphthong /aɪ/ that requires a smooth glide from /a/ to /ɪ/. For non-native speakers, the challenge is not the consonants but the vowel quality and timing—starting with a subtle schwa and leading into a strong /aɪ/ before the final /n/. Mastery requires precise tongue height, lip rounding, and a crisp alveolar nasal closure.
No. All letters in assign are pronounced: the first syllable uses a schwa /ə/, second syllable contains the diphthong /aɪ/, followed by the final /n/. Many learners mispronounce by dropping the final n or softening the /aɪ/; practice with tying the sounds together ensures every sound is heard.
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- US: rhoticity is minimally relevant here; focus on the strong /aɪ/ diphthong; length of vowel is short to medium. - UK: maintain non-rhotic perception in connected speech; keep the /aɪ/ crisp and the /n/ audible; slight length difference before voiceless consonants and a tendency for linking /ə/ before consonants. - AU: similar to US but with possible vowel quality variations; keep the diphthong pure and avoid over-lowering the first element. IPA references: /əˈsaɪn/.
The verb assign traces to Old French as signer, from Latin assignare, which means to mark or appoint. The Latin root ‘sign’ (to mark) evolved in meaning from marking a boundary or designation to officially appointing or attributing something to a person or purpose. In Medieval and Early Modern Europe, legal and administrative texts used assignare to indicate the act of allocating rights, duties, or property. The English adoption of assign in the sense of ‘to designate for a person or purpose’ became standard in the 16th century, growing with bureaucratic language and formal documentation. By the 17th and 18th centuries, ‘assign’ commonly appeared in academic and legal writing, leading to modern uses like assigning tasks, roles, or values in mathematics and programming. The pronunciation settled into the modern form /əˈsaɪn/ for most varieties, with the stress on the second syllable. First known uses include legal and contractual assignments, where a party would assign rights, property, or duties through formal declaration. Over time, this evolved into everyday language in business and computing, where assignment denotes mapping data, tasks, or responsibilities from one agent to another.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "assign" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "assign" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "assign"
-ign sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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