One syllable: feasts.
feests
/fists/
feasts is pronounced feests (/fists/). It has one syllable (feasts), with the stress on "feasts". Feasts is the third-person singular or plural noun form of feast, meaning large meals or celebrations, or the act of eating and enjoying plentiful food. In use, it often denotes festive occasions or abundant banquets, and can be used metaphorically for any lavish display or indulgence. The word emphasizes communal enjoyment and abundance.
Feasts is the third-person singular or plural noun form of feast, meaning large meals or celebrations, or the act of eating and enjoying plentiful food. In use, it often denotes festive occasions or abundant banquets, and can be used metaphorically for any lavish display or indulgence. The word emphasizes communal enjoyment and abundance.
- You might drop the /t/ or blur the /t/ in the /t/ + /s/ cluster; keep it as a light, but audible /t/ before a crisp /s/ to prevent /siːs/ or /siːz/ mispronunciations. - Confuse the vowel with a short /i/; ensure the vowel is a long /iː/ as in feast; practice a steady, tense jaw position to sustain /iː/. - In fast speech you might run the /t/ and /s/ together, producing a slurred /sts/; enforce a tiny aspirated pause or release between /t/ and /s/. - Final /s/ can assimilate with the next sound if in a sentence, so practice with word-internal and sentence-level contexts to sustain the final /s/ consistently.
"The village held feasts after the harvest festival."
"We feasts on turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving (informal variant); note: traditional spelling is feasts, not feast’s."
"The royal banquet featured feasts that lasted for days and impressed the guests."
Pronounce it as /fiːsts/. The word has two syllables: feasts as one stressed unit with a long /iː/ vowel, followed by /sts/. In careful speech, your mouth forms a high front vowel, then a crisp /s/ immediately followed by /t/ and /s/. The IPA for US/UK/AU is consistently /fiːsts/; the only subtlety is vowel length and the final /s/ crispness. You can listen to native examples on Pronounce or Forvo to internalize the rhythm.
Common mistakes include treating the vowel as short /ɪ/ as in bed, so you’d say /fɪsts/ instead of /fiːsts/, and dropping the /t/ or turning the /ts/ into /s/ or /z/ in rapid speech. To correct: use a long /iː/ for the stressed vowel and articulate the /t/ and /s/ as a crisp cluster /t s/ rather than a softened /s/ or /z/; maintain a slight pause before the /s/ to prevent blending. Listening to native audio and practicing slow repetitions helps fix these errors.
In US, UK, and AU, the pronunciation remains /fiːsts/, with emphasis on the first syllable and a rhotic non-influence on vowel quality. UK speakers maintain a pure long /iː/ and a crisp /t/ before the /s/, while US speakers often have a more pronounced /t/ release in the /t s/ cluster. Australian English aligns closely with UK in vowels, though some speakers may have a slightly more centralized /iː/ and a softer /t/ release. Overall, rhoticity is not a factor here, but vowel quality and consonant clarity vary slightly.
The difficulty lies in the /iː/ vowel length and the /ts/ consonant cluster after a stressed syllable. Some speakers slur the /t/, making it look like /fiːs/ instead of /fiːsts/. Others may voice the final /s/, becoming /fiːzts/. Mastery comes from crisp articulation of /t/ followed immediately by /s/, and maintaining the long /iː/ without reducing it in rapid speech.
Feasts ends with the /s/ sound in plural form. Unlike the singular feast, which can be a noun or verb, feasts as a plural noun always marks multiple occasions of festive meals. The plural suffix is pronounced as a voiceless /s/ here, not the /z/ sometimes heard in plural forms of other words. This makes the pronunciation distinct in rapid speech where the suffix remains crisp.
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- US: clear, slightly flatter vowel quality; maintain the long /iː/ and a sharper /t/ release before /s/; avoid vowel reduction in rapid speech. IPA: /fiːsts/. - UK: crisp /t/ before /s/; keep the long /iː/ but you may hear a more forward tongue position; IPA: /fiːsts/. - AU: similar to UK/US, with a possibly slightly more centralized /iː/ and a soft /t/ release; IPA: /fiːsts/. - Tips: Practice vowel height with a mirror; place the tongue close to the alveolar ridge for /t/; keep lips relaxed but controlled for the final /s/ to avoid lisp. Use minimal pairs to hear the difference between feasts and feats or feats vs feists to isolate the /iː/ quality.
Feasts comes from the Old English faestan or fǣstan, related to feast and feast (n.) in West Germanic languages. The term derives from Proto-Germanic faun- or fagn- roots connected to eating and celebrating. In early usage, feasts signified communal banquets held to honor holy days, harvests, or royalty. By Middle English, feasts broadened to include any large meal or lavish entertainment. The plural form feasts is used for multiple events or parties, whereas feast (singular) can function as a verb (to celebrate with abundant food) or a noun (a single celebratory meal). The word’s sense of abundance and sociability persisted through the centuries, with religious and secular ceremonies often described as “feasts.” First known written attestations appear in medieval legal and religious texts, evolving into the modern sense of both plural events and collective dining experiences.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "feasts" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "feasts" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "feasts"
-sts sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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