One syllable: Coarse.
kawrs
/kɔɹs/
Coarse is pronounced kawrs (/kɔɹs/). It has one syllable (Coarse), with the stress on "Coarse". Coarse is an adjective meaning rough in texture or in manner, lacking refinement or polish. It can describe something uneven to the touch, or behavior that is crude or uncultured. In everyday language, it often signals a gap between expectation and quality, or a low level of civility or sensitivity.
adjectiveCoarse is an adjective meaning rough in texture or in manner, lacking refinement or polish. It can describe something uneven to the touch, or behavior that is crude or uncultured. In everyday language, it often signals a gap between expectation and quality, or a low level of civility or sensitivity.
How to Pronounce Coarse
"The sandpaper felt coarse against her skin."
"His coarse joke offended several people in the room."
"The fabric has a coarse weave that wears quickly."
Coarse is pronounced /koʊrs/ in US and /kɔːs/ in UK and AU. The stress is on the single syllable. Start with a long 'o' sound, then a hard ‘r’ followed by a soft 's'. Your mouth forms a rounded lip position for the /oʊ/ (US) or an open-mid back vowel for /ɔː/ (UK/AU), then a non-voiced 'r'-colored ending. Listen for the smooth, single syllable feel with no extra vowels after the /s/.
Common mistakes include adding an extra vowel after the /s/ (saying co-arse), mispronouncing the vowel as a short 'o' (like 'cot'), or weakening the final /r/ so it sounds like /koːs/ without rhoticity in US English. Practice with minimal pairs to fix this: /koʊrs/ vs /koːs/. Focus on maintaining a tense, rounded /oː/ vowel and finishing with a crisp /r/ (US) or a non-rhotic ending in some UK accents, which changes the /r/ color. знания.
In US English you get /koʊrs/, with a rhotic /r/ and a clear /oʊ/ diphthong. UK and many AU varieties tend toward non-rhotic or weaker rhotics, giving /kɔːs/ with a longer, rounded /ɔː/ vowel and a less pronounced r, especially in non-rhotic contexts. Australia often sits between: /kɔːs/ with a noticeable but not heavily rhotic /ɹ/ quality depending on speaker. The key differences are vowel height and rhoticity; US emphasizes rhoticity and the rising diphthong, while UK/AU emphasize lengthened /ɔː/ and reduced postvocalic /r/ in some contexts.
The difficulty lies in the short, single-syllable structure with a diphthongal start and a concluding /s/ or /z/ quality depending on voicing. The main challenge is producing a clean, tense /o/ or /oʊ/ vowel without inserting a schwa, and ensuring the final consonant blends crisply with no extra vowel, which is easy to do when rapid speech adds an extra syllable. Attention to mouth posture for a rounded front-back vowel and controlling the tongue’s position for a clear /r/ or its absence (UK/AU) helps stabilize accuracy.
Unique to 'coarse' is the tight coupling of the vowel and the /r/ or its absence in non-rhotic accents. A practical question drivers often ask is whether the /r/ colors the preceding vowel in rhotic accents, and how to maintain that color without turning into an overt vowel shift. In practice, you keep the tongue high for /o/ (US) or mid-back for /ɔː/ (UK/AU) and curl the tip toward the alveolar ridge to introduce the rhotic color without overpronouncing.
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Coarse originates from the Old French word coorse, later coarse in Middle English, rooted in the Latin word crassus meaning thick or fat, which evolved to describe things that are not smooth or refined. The semantic shift traces from tangible roughness to figurative roughness in behavior. By the 14th century, crude textures and manners were described as coarse, later broadening to mean vulgar or indiscreet. In modern English, coarse can describe texture (rough surface), sound (loud, harsh), or behavior (crude, uncultured). The term is often paired with opposite terms like fine or refined, educating speakers about the gradations between quality and civility. The evolution reflects social judgments about polish, texture, and propriety, with early uses tied to tangible material properties and later to social conduct. First known uses appear in Middle English texts around the 13th century, with variants in Old and Middle French as the language of courtly refinement interacted with everyday speech across Europe.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Coarse" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Coarse" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Coarse"
-rse sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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