2 syllables: Dough, nut. Stress on Dough.
DOH-nuht
/ˈdoʊˌnʌt/
Doughnut is pronounced DOH-nuht (/ˈdoʊˌnʌt/). It has two syllables (Dough-nut), with the stress on "Dough". Doughnut is a fried or baked ring-shaped pastry, commonly filled or glazed. As a noun, it refers to the sweet, ring-shaped treat; in some regions it’s also used to describe a torus-shaped item in mathematics or a metaphor in slang. The word is widely used in everyday, informal contexts and appears in recipe, café, and dessert discussions.
nounDoughnut is a fried or baked ring-shaped pastry, commonly filled or glazed. As a noun, it refers to the sweet, ring-shaped treat; in some regions it’s also used to describe a torus-shaped item in mathematics or a metaphor in slang. The word is widely used in everyday, informal contexts and appears in recipe, café, and dessert discussions.
"I’ll grab a glazed doughnut with coffee this morning."
"The bakery down the street makes excellent cinnamon-doughnut bites."
"We shared a chocolate-filled doughnut after the meeting."
Doughnut is pronounced with two syllables: DOH-nut. IPAUS: /ˈdoʊ.nʌt/. The first syllable contains a long “o” sound (dough) followed by a short, clipped /n/ and a short /ʌ/ in the second syllable. Stress is on the first syllable: DOH- not. In rapid speech, the final /t/ can be unreleased, especially in American casual speech. Listen for a clean /oʊ/ then a quick /nʌt/. Audio references: Cambridge/Forvo pronunciations provide native speaker examples.
Common mistakes include saying the first syllable with a short /o/ (as in ‘dog’) and mispronouncing the second syllable as /ə/ or /ɪ/ rather than /ʌ/. Another error is pronouncing the final consonant as a hard /t/ with aspirated release in very casual speech, which can blur the /n/ + /ʌ/ sequence. The fix: use a clear /oʊ/ in the first syllable, a relaxed but distinct /n/ and a short /ʌ/ in the second, then either elide the /t/ or lightly release it.
In US English, /ˈdoʊ.nʌt/ with a rhotic r-free final; the first syllable is a long diphthong /oʊ/ and the second a short /ʌ/. UK English retains /ˈdəʊ.nʌt/ with a slightly more centralized /ə/ in the first vowel and less rhoticity in some dialects. Australian English usually mirrors US vowel quality in the first syllable but can feature a more centralized /ʌ/ and a non-rhotic tendency, depending on the speaker. Across regions, the main variation is vowel quality of /oʊ/ vs /əʊ/ and the exact vowel height of /ʌ/.
The difficulty lies in transitioning from the long, rounded /oʊ/ vowel to the short /ʌ/ and the way the final /t/ is treated in casual speech. Learners often blend /doʊ/ with /dəʊ/ or mispronounce the /ʌ/ as /ə/ or /ɪ/. The tongue must move from a high back position for /oʊ/ to a lower central position for /ʌ/ while the final /t/ is released or softly omitted. Mastery comes with deliberate practice of the diphthong and the quick, precise /n/ + /ʌ/ sequence.
A distinctive feature of doughnut is the silent-ish nature of the spelling 'gh' in modern pronunciation; the 'gh' does not produce a /f/ or /g/ sound here. The sound is governed by the digraph in the spelling, but the actual pronunciation centers on /doʊ/ for the first syllable, with the nucleus of /ʌ/ in the second syllable. The word’s potential for glottal stop in rapid speech may appear, especially the final /t/ becoming unreleased.
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The term doughnut ( Doughnut ) traces to early 19th-century American usage. It likely derives from “doughn’t” or “dough-nut,” a compound of dough (the batter or paste) and nut, a folk metaphor for the rounded form shaped like a nut, regardless of a connotation to actual nuts. The modern American spelling with the o-u t shows standardization in the 19th and early 20th centuries, paralleling other culinary coinages of the era. Variations include donut in American English and doughnut in British English; the shorter form gained popularity with mass media and brand naming. Early recipes used fried dough cut into rings or pressed with ring molds; the glazed ring emerged as a staple in American bakeries by the late 19th century, while “doughnut” maintained a traditional, somewhat quaint spelling in British usage. The term’s evolution mirrors the shift from a home-baked treat to a mass-produced bakery item and then to a popular cultural symbol, with expressions like “doughnut hole” entering common language as a metaphor for a hollow center or missing piece.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Doughnut" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Doughnut"
-oat sounds
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