3 syllables: bus, iness, es. Stress on bus.
BIZ-nuh-suhz
/ˈbɪznəsəz/
businesses is pronounced BIZ-nuh-suhz (/ˈbɪznəsəz/). It has three syllables (bus-iness-es), with the stress on "bus". The plural form of business, referring to multiple commercial ventures or organizations. In everyday use, it denotes more than one business entity or activity and is commonly used in professional and informal contexts to discuss markets, firms, or entrepreneurial undertakings.
The plural form of business, referring to multiple commercial ventures or organizations. In everyday use, it denotes more than one business entity or activity and is commonly used in professional and informal contexts to discuss markets, firms, or entrepreneurial undertakings.
"Small businesses are the backbone of the local economy."
"Several online businesses launched this year."
"Many large businesses reorganized their supply chains after the pandemic."
Usual pronunciation is /ˈbɪz.nə.sɪz/ or /ˈbɪz.nəs.ɪz/ in US/UK. The first syllable carries primary stress: BI-zples. Break into BEAN-ess-iz? Not quite—it's BIS-nuh-siz in rapid speech. The middle vowel typically reduces to schwa: /ˈbɪz.nə.sɪz/ (US) or /ˈbɪz.nɪ.sᵊɪz/ (some UK varieties). End with /ɪz/ or /əz/ depending on pace. For clarity, think: “BIZ-nuh-siz” with a lighter, unstressed second syllable and a final z-sound.”,
Two frequent errors: (1) treating the middle as a full syllable with /i/ as in “businesses” plural, producing /ˈbɪzɪnəsɪz/. (2) Dropping the final -es and clipping to /ˈbɪz.nəs/. Correct approach: use a reduced middle vowel /nə/ or /nəs/ depending on accent, and clearly pronounce the final /ɪz/ as a soft z-sound. Keep the first syllable stressed and avoid turning /ˈbɪz/ into /ˈbɪzɪ/.
In US and UK, stress remains on the first syllable, but vowel quality shifts slightly: US often /ˈbɪz.nə.sɪz/ with a schwa in the middle; UK may lean toward /ˈbɪz.nɪ.sɪz/, with a slightly shorter middle vowel. Australian tends toward /ˈbɪz.nəs.ɪz/ with a more centralized mid vowel and a crisp final /ɪz/. Overall, rhoticity in US can influence vowel coloration, but the word keeps three syllables and a final /-ɪz/.
The difficulty lies in the triple-consonant cluster and rapid syllable transition: /z/ to /n/ to /s/ and then /ɪz/ at the end. The middle schwa can reduce or merge with neighboring vowels in fast speech, making it sound like /ˈbɪz.nəs.ɪz/ or /ˈbɪzn.əsɪz/. Paying attention to the internal /z/ and practicing the link between final -s and next word helps maintain clarity.
A notable feature is the contrastive plural ending -es pronounced as /ɪz/ or /əz/ depending on preceding consonant. In /ˈbɪz.nə.sɪz/ the final /-sɪz/ can blur in hurried speech to /-sɪz/; in careful speech you’ll hear an explicit /ɪ/ before the final /z/. This 3-syllable pattern with a stressed first syllable is distinctive for ordinary plural forms in commerce terms.
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Business, from Old English bisignes (care, anxiety, occupation) through Middle English busyness, originally meaning anxiety or occupation. The modern sense of an establishment for trade evolved by the 15th century as commerce and trade enterprises became the primary reference. The plural Businesses emerged as the referent to multiple commercial entities. The inflection -es is a standard English plural suffix added to words ending in -s or those treated as plural in commerce terms. The root concept is tied to “busy” and “busyness,” once used to describe occupation or work, which later specialized into economic ventures and firms. First known uses appear in 13th-15th centuries in legal and mercantile documents describing measures of trade activity and plural commercial bodies. Over time, the pronunciation came to emphasize the first syllable with a reduced second syllable, and the plural is pronounced /ˈbɪz·nəs·ɪz/ in careful speech, often /ˈbɪz·nəs·ɪz/ in connected speech.
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Words that rhyme with "businesses"
-ses sounds
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