3 syllables: con, tain, er. Stress on tain.
kuhn-TAY-nur
/kəˈnteɪnɚ/
container is pronounced kuhn-TAY-nur (/kəˈnteɪnɚ/). It has three syllables (con-tain-er), with the stress on "tain". Container refers to a hollow receptacle intended for holding or transporting items. It can also denote an object that contains something, or a namespace/container in computing. The term is commonly used across domestic, industrial, and software contexts to describe a physical box or a virtual wrapper that holds contents. The pronunciation is stressed on the second syllable: /kənˈteɪnər/.
Container refers to a hollow receptacle intended for holding or transporting items. It can also denote an object that contains something, or a namespace/container in computing. The term is commonly used across domestic, industrial, and software contexts to describe a physical box or a virtual wrapper that holds contents. The pronunciation is stressed on the second syllable: /kənˈteɪnər/.
"She stored the jars in a plastic container on the shelf."
"The shipping container was sealed before transfer to the cargo ship."
"In computing, a container wraps an application and its dependencies."
Pronunciation is /kənˈteɪ.nər/ (US) or /kənˈteɪ.nə/ (UK/AU), with primary stress on the second syllable. Start with /kən/ (neutral schwa + n), glide into /ˈteɪ/ as in 'tray', then end with /nər/ (US) or /nə/ (UK/AU). Tip: keep the /t/ light, don’t aspirate heavily; ensure the long /eɪ/ vowel in the second syllable is clear. Audio guidance from standard dictionaries can help you match the vowel duration and rhythm.
Common errors include reducing the second syllable to /tə/ as in con-TA-nər, or misplacing the stress on the first syllable (CON-tainer). Another frequent issue is flattening the /eɪ/ to a short /e/ or /ɛ/. To correct: emphasize the /ˈteɪ/ with a clear long A, keep the first syllable unstressed, and finish with a light /nər/ (US) or /nə/ (UK/AU). Practice slow, then speed up while maintaining the two-beat rhythm.
In US English, the final -er is often pronounced as /ər/ with rhoticity— /kənˈteɪnər/. UK and many AU varieties may have a non-rhotic ending, approximating /kənˈteɪ.nə/. The second syllable /teɪ/ remains the same across accents, but the final syllable can reduce to /ə/ (schwa) in non-rhotic contexts. Vowel quality in the second syllable is the same /eɪ/; the main difference is the rhotic /r/ coloring in US versus its absence in UK/AU.
The difficulty lies in the combination of a stressed, long vowel /eɪ/ inside a three-syllable word and the quick transition to a final unstressed syllable. The middle syllable carries the main stress, but the tongue must move briskly from /teɪ/ to /nər/ without adding extra vowel length. Additionally, non-rhotic varieties may reduce the final -er, causing listeners to hear /nə/ instead of /nər/. Mastery comes from precise vowel duration and clean syllable boundaries.
A distinctive point is keeping the /teɪ/ vowel clear and not shortening it in rapid speech. Also, ensure the sequence /nər/ remains compact rather than merging the /r/ into the preceding syllable in rhotic accents. In careful speech, you’ll notice a subtle boundary after /teɪ/ before the /nər/. If your accent is non-rhotic, practice converting /nər/ to /nə/ without losing the correct syllable timing.
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Container comes from the Middle French contenir, ultimately from Latin continere, meaning to hold together or constrain. The form entered English via Old French and Middle English, carrying the notion of something that contains another object. The shift in meaning from a verb/idea of holding to a noun describing an object that holds occurred as English borrowed terms for packing and storage. Early senses referred to any receptacle or vessel; by the late 16th to 17th centuries, container began appearing in English as a designation for items used to contain goods, especially in nautical and mercantile contexts. In modern usage, container also extends to abstract domains such as software containers (virtual environments) where it denotes encapsulation of a process and dependencies, preserving consistency across platforms. The word retains the core idea of confinement and enclosure, with specialized senses in logistics and computing shaping contemporary usage. First known use in print appears in maritime inventories of the 1600s, with steadily increasing frequency in the 18th and 19th centuries as global trade expanded and later in the tech era for software architecture terms.
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Words that rhyme with "container"
-ner sounds
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