entrepreneurship

Pronounce as /ˌɛn.trə.prəˈnɜːr.ʃɪp/ (US) or /ˌɒn.trə.prəˈnɜː.ʃɪp/ (UK) with four clear syllables after the initial stress tilt: en-truh-pruh-NUR-ship, with primary stress on the third syllable ‘neur’ and a final ‘ship’ that rhymes with ‘ship’ in regular speech. Start with a short, unstressed 'en' (ehn). The middle 'tre' becomes a quick schwa before the stressed 'neur' syllable; end with a crisp ‘ship.’ Audio reference: imagine listening to a native speaker say “entrepreneurship” in a business conference.”

Common mistakes: 1) Weakening or misplacing stress: some say en-TRUH-pruh-NER-ship or EN-truh-pren-ership. Correction: keep primary stress on the ‘neur’ syllable: en-trə-prə-ˈnɜːr-ʃɪp. 2) Slurring the ‘prə’ before the stressed syllable, producing too many syllables or a run-together ‘truh-pruh’ chunk. Correction: clearly separate en-trə- and prə- with light pause or crisp transition. 3) Final ‘ship’ mispronounced as ‘sip’ or ‘ship’ with altered vowel: ensure /ʃɪp/ end sound. Practice slowly to maintain accuracy and then speed up as you maintain the same articulation.

US tends to rhoticize the /ɜːr/ in ‘neur’ and maintain a clear /p/ before final /ʃɪp/. UK often reduces the vowel in unstressed syllables slightly and may have a less rhotic /ɜː/ quality; the final /ʃɪp/ remains fairly stable. Australian tends to share US rhotic tendencies in careful speech but can show more centralized vowels in unstressed syllables, with similar final /ʃɪp/; overall rhythm can be slightly more clipped. Focus on keeping /ɜːr/ distinct in all variants.

The difficulty centers on multi-syllabic structure with multiple schwa reductions and a stressed mid syllable: en-trə-prə-ˈnɜːr-ʃɪp. The sequence /trə-prə/ blends quickly, and the /ɜːr/ fragment is non-native-friendly for many learners who are not used to rhotic vowels in the middle of a word; keeping the ‘neur’ sound clear and distinguishing it from the adjacent schwas makes it challenging. Practicing careful segmentation helps.

A unique point is the emphasis pattern across the word: the primary stress falls on the penultimate to final syllable cluster (‘neur’), which is less intuitive since learners expect stress on the first or second syllable in many English loanwords. Practically, you should cue the phrase with a small increase in loudness and a slightly longer vowel on the /ɜːr/ portion, ensuring the final /ʃɪp/ lands promptly after the /r/ without trailing vowels.