One syllable: cab.
/ˈkæb/
Say it backCab refers to a small vehicle for hire, typically with a driver and a passenger. It is a common, everyday word used in casual conversation and urban contexts. The sense of “cab” is straightforward: a taxi. The term is short, monosyllabic, and usually stress is on the single syllable, making pronunciation concise and precise.
"I waved down a cab after the concert."
"She split the cab fare with her coworker."
"The cab stopped in front of the hotel entrance."
Pronounced /kæb/ in US, UK, and AU accents. Stress is on the single syllable. Start with a low-front lax vowel /æ/ as in “cat,” then end with a voiced bilabial stop /b/. Make sure there’s a crisp release on /b/ without voicing into a following sound. IPA reference: /kæb/. You’ll typically hear it in fast speech as /kæb/ with clear articulation of /k/ at the onset.
Common errors: using a rounded /ɑ/ or /æː/ vowel like ‘cob’ or ‘cab’ without the correct short /æ/. Another mistake is de-voicing the final /b/, making it sound like /kæp/; ensure your vocal cords vibrate for the /b/. Finally, adding extra vowel before the /b/ as in /kæəb/; keep it tight and monosyllabic with a clean /b/ release.
US/UK/AU share /kæb/ as the standard; the key differences lie in surrounding vowel quality and rhotics nearby. In rhotic US contexts, /æ/ remains stable before /b/ with no rhotic coloring on the vowel itself. In non-rhotic British accents, there’s no /r/ effect here, but you might notice crisper /k/ release and potentially less lip rounding. Australian English typically aligns with /kæb/ and may be slightly more centralized; overall the primary vowel and consonant positions remain the same across these accents.
The challenge is the short, lax /æ/ vowel and the precise, unvoiced/voiced distinction between /k/ and /b/ in rapid speech. Beginners may tense the jaw making the /æ/ sound too long, or they may drop the final /b/. In connected speech, the final /b/ can elide or voice into the next word; practice with word pairs to stabilize the stop release and ensure a clean, audible /b/.
Focus on the crisp onset /k/ followed by the short /æ/ and a firm /b/ release. Tongue position: back of the tongue rises to touch the soft palate for /k/, then the body lowers to a mid-low /æ/. Lip position is neutral; avoid rounding. This triplet ensures the word is heard distinctly in fast city speech.
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Cab originated in the early 19th century as a short form of cabriolet, a light horse-drawn carriage. The term cabriolet itself comes from the Old French cabriolet, diminutive of cabri, meaning goat, a whimsical reference to the small, light carriage. In English, cab emerged in the sense of a hired carriage and gradually narrowed to the modern taxi meaning. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, motorized cabs proliferated in urban centers, cementing cab as the everyday word for a taxi. The usage shifted from possibly horse-drawn carriages to motor vehicles, with “cab” often contrasted with “hackney” in British English and merged into broader taxi vocabulary in American English. First known use in print as “cab” dates to the 1830s in Britain, but the sense of a hireable vehicle appears earlier in related forms. Over time, “cab” has retained its brevity and colloquial tone, remaining common in informal speech while still appearing in formal contexts when naming services or describing transportation options. Today, “cab” is universally understood in many varieties of English, often interchangeable with “taxi.”
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "cab" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "cab" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "cab"
-dab sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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