3 syllables: Bun, sen Burn, er. Stress on Bun.
BUHN-zuhn bur-nur
/ˈbʌn.zən ˌbɝː.nɚ/
Bunsen Burner is pronounced BUHN-zuhn bur-nur (/ˈbʌn.zən ˌbɝː.nɚ/). It has three syllables (Bun-sen Burn-er), with the stress on "Bun". A Bunsen burner is a laboratory flame device that produces a controllable, clean flame for heating and combustion experiments. It typically uses gas and an adjustable air supply, enabling a hotter, blue flame for efficient heating. The term combines the inventor’s name with “burner,” referring to the flame-producing apparatus.
nounA Bunsen burner is a laboratory flame device that produces a controllable, clean flame for heating and combustion experiments. It typically uses gas and an adjustable air supply, enabling a hotter, blue flame for efficient heating. The term combines the inventor’s name with “burner,” referring to the flame-producing apparatus.
How to Pronounce Bunsen Burner
"The scientist lit the Bunsen burner to heat the sample."
"Adjust the air-hole to get a hotter blue flame on the Bunsen burner."
"We compared the performance of the Bunsen burner with a spirit lamp."
Pronounce it as BUN-sen BUR-ner. IPA US: ˈbən.zən ˈbər.nər; UK/AU often ˈbʌn.zən ˈbɜː.nə. The first word stresses the first syllable; Bunsen = /ˈbən.zən/ in US due to the schwa in the first vowel and a reduced second vowel, while the second word BUR-ner has stronger initial stress. Keep the /z/ clear and avoid extra vowel length in the second syllable. Audio reference: consult Cambridge or Forvo pronunciation clips for the two-word phrase together.
Common mistakes: pronouncing Bunsen as Boo-n-sen or bun-sun with a long U; misplacing stress on the second syllable or blending the two words together too loosely. Corrections: pronounce Bunsen with two short vowels and a clear /z/ in the middle: /ˈbən.zən/; pronounce Burner with initial /bər/ and a crisp /nər/; pause subtly between words to avoid a glottal stop at the boundary. Practicing the phrase slowly helps you keep the rhythm and clarity.
US: /ˈbən.zən ˈbər.nər/ with schwa in Bunsen and rhotic initial vowels in Burner. UK/AU: /ˈbʌn.zən ˈbɜː.nə/ with slightly more centralized or rounded vowels; Burner ends with a rhotic-free /nə/ in many speakers, and the second syllable of Burner may be less emphatic. The main shift is vowel quality: /ə/ vs /ɜː/ and rhoticity in US vs non-rhotic UK. Listen to native science talks to fine-tune this.
The difficulty comes from the two-word boundary and the transition between /z/ and /b/ clusters, plus the unstressed schwa in Bunsen that can blur into /ən/. Speakers also differ on whether to reduce Bunsen’s second vowel (/zən/) and whether to rhoticize Burner. Practicing the two-syllable structure separately and then together helps you keep consonants crisp and vowels accurate, especially the /b/ at the start of Burner.
Notable feature: the Bunsen part contains a rhotacized-ish vowel quality in some speakers, especially the /z/ between syllables; but more importantly, maintaining clear sibilant /z/ openness without letting it merge with the following vowel is key. Also, the boundary between words must be audible to prevent blending into a single word. IPA cues help you maintain crisp word separation: /ˈbən.zən/ and /ˈbər.nər/.
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The term Bunsen burner traces to German chemist Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (1811–1899), who, with Peter Desaga (a designer), developed a gas-fueled flame device in the 1850s that could mix gas with air for efficient combustion. The device allowed scientists to heat substances with a consistent, controllable flame and became a standard piece of laboratory equipment. The word “burner” is from Old English burnan “to burn” and later “burner,” a device that creates flame or heat. Early usage appeared in German scientific literature as “Bunsenbrenner” and was anglicized into “Bunsen burner” as the device spread to English-speaking laboratories, with the name retaining Bunsen’s surname as a proper noun. Over time, the design evolved to include adjustable air vents to regulate flame temperature, but the name remained a fixed, conventional term in chemistry education and lab work.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Bunsen Burner" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Bunsen Burner"
-ner sounds
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