2 syllables: fat, ty. Stress on fat.
FAT-ee
/ˈfæti/
fatty is pronounced FAT-ee (/ˈfæti/). It has two syllables (fat-ty), with the stress on "fat". Fatty is a colloquial adjective or noun referring to a person or animal with a high amount of fat; it can also describe foods or issues related to fat content. In everyday use, it conveys a diminutive or casual tone, often with a slightly teasing or descriptive edge. The term emphasizes excess fat or fatty tissue rather than a precise medical condition.
Fatty is a colloquial adjective or noun referring to a person or animal with a high amount of fat; it can also describe foods or issues related to fat content. In everyday use, it conveys a diminutive or casual tone, often with a slightly teasing or descriptive edge. The term emphasizes excess fat or fatty tissue rather than a precise medical condition.
- Commonly, you’ll see a mispronunciation where the /æ/ is replaced with a more open or closed vowel, producing something like /ˈfəti/ or /ˈfeɪti/. This makes the word sound like either ‘feety’ or ‘fetty’ rather than ‘fat-tee’. - Another frequent error is a slurred /t/; instead of a sharp alveolar stop, speakers may produce a flap /ɾ/ or a soft d, yielding /ˈfædi/. - Finally, some speakers lengthen the ending vowel to /iː/ or reduce it to a schwa; keep it short and crisp: avoid ‘fa-tee’ or ‘fat-ty’ with a long vowel. To fix: train the first vowel with a crisp /æ/ (as in cat), stop the /t/ clearly, and finish with a short /i/; use minimal pairs like fat– fatty to reinforce contrast.
"- He’s been eating fatty foods all week and isn’t feeling well."
"- Don’t call him fatty; it’s not a kind way to address someone."
"- The doctor warned about fatty deposits around the arteries."
Fatty is pronounced /ˈfæti/. The first syllable carries primary stress. Start with the short a as in 'cat' and follow with a long e as in 'see' but shortened in many accents. End with a light -ee sound. In quick speech, the vowels may reduce slightly, but keep the first vowel distinct to avoid confusion with 'feedy' or 'fetty.' You’ll hear it most clearly as two syllables: FA-ty.
Common errors include pronouncing the first vowel as a broad American 'eh' in 'fat' with a longer, lazier vowel, making it sound like 'feety' or 'fetty'. Another mistake is conflating with 'fatty' meaning 'thin' in some contexts by misplacing stress or softening the first syllable too much. To correct, ensure the first vowel is the short a /æ/ as in ‘cat,’ keep /t/ crisp, and end with a clear /i/ as in 'see.' Practice with minimal pairs like fat–fatty to lock the distinction.
In US/UK/AU, the primary stress remains on the first syllable /ˈfæti/. The /æ/ vowel in the first syllable is generally the American short-a; in some UK and Australian pronunciations, it may be slightly rounded or closer to /æ/ but with subtle length differences. The ending /i/ is a short, clipped vowel in rapid speech; Australians might produce a shorter, more centralized final vowel. Rounding of the lips is minimal across these accents. The rhoticity does not markedly alter fatty, but the intonation and vowel quality can vary regionally.
Fatty combines a tense, short vowel /æ/ with a final high front vowel /i/ that can slide toward a schwa in rapid speech. The /t/ between them must be crisp to prevent a travoized ‘fa-ty’ blend. If you soften the /t/ or merge vowels, you risk saying ‘feety’ or ‘fetty.’ People often mispronounce by elongating the first vowel or reducing the final vowel; keep both vowels distinct and maintain a clean /t/ to stabilize articulation.
A distinctive aspect is the two-close-vowel sequence /æ/ followed by /i/. Ensure the tongue drops briefly for /æ/ and rises toward a high front position for /i/ without gliding into /j/ or /iː/. This word also benefits from a quick, light articulation; a heavy, drawn-out ending blurs the distinction with words like ‘feety’ or ‘fetty.’ Practice by isolating the vowels and then combining them in quick alternation to reinforce crisp articulation.
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- US: /ˈfæti/ with a crisp /t/ and a short /i/. The /æ/ is near open-front; mouth slightly lowered. - UK: /ˈfæti/ similar, but you may hear a slightly tenser jaw and a marginally higher tongue body for the /i/. - AU: /ˈfæti/ tends to be a bit more centralized in the final vowel, with less vowel length variation; keep the final /i/ tight and quick. Across all, rhoticity has minimal effect, but vowel quality and vowel length can shift subtly with Australian vowels being somewhat centralized. - General tip: practice with a mirror to align lip rounding and tongue height for each vowel.
Fatty derives from the noun fat, dating from Old English far, with cognates across Germanic languages. The suffix -y is a productive diminutive/descriptor in English, giving a sense of characteristic or possessing. The base word fat traces back to Proto-Germanic staff?; not to be confused with fat as an adjective meaning rich in fat or full of fat tissue, but share semantic ties to adipose content. In Middle English and Early Modern English, fatty as an attributive adjective appeared to denote “containing fat” and over time evolved into slang describers of people or foods with high fat content. The shift to casual insult or affectionate descriptor is common in colloquial English, particularly in American usage, with the form fatty appearing in the 19th to 20th centuries in informal speech and media. First known printed uses appear in American English in cookbooks and humorous writing, evolving into common conversational usage as a label for both foods and people. As a noun, fatty can also refer to fatty tissue itself in medical contexts, while as an adjective it modifies nouns like fatty acids, fatty foods, or fatty deposits, reflecting its broad semantic drift from a straightforward descriptor to a flexible, colloquial term.
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Words that rhyme with "fatty"
-tty sounds
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