2 syllables: fe, male. Stress on fe.
FEE-mayl
/ˈfiˌmeɪl/
female is pronounced FEE-mayl (/ˈfiˌmeɪl/). It has two syllables (fe-male), with the stress on "fe". Female refers to the gender identity typically associated with women; in biology, it denotes the sex that can bear offspring or contribute ova. The term also serves as a modifier in phrases describing anything relating to women or the feminine. In everyday use, it commonly functions as a noun or adjective, with nuance depending on context and formality.
Female refers to the gender identity typically associated with women; in biology, it denotes the sex that can bear offspring or contribute ova. The term also serves as a modifier in phrases describing anything relating to women or the feminine. In everyday use, it commonly functions as a noun or adjective, with nuance depending on context and formality.
"The female participants led the study."
"She adopted a more female-presenting wardrobe."
"The female bird laid eggs in the nest."
Pronounce it as FI-meeL with the primary stress on the first syllable. IPA: US/UK/AU ˈfiː.meɪl. Begin with a long /iː/ as in bead, then glide to /meɪ/ as in pay, ending with /l/. Keep the mouth open slightly wider for the vowel shift from /iː/ to /eɪ/; the final /l/ is light, not darkened. If you’re listening, you’ll hear a smooth, two-syllable rhythm with a clear syllable break after the first vowel. Mouth position: lips spread a bit for /iː/, then neutral to slightly rounded for /eɪ/. Practice saying FI-meeL clearly at a steady tempo.
Common errors: treating it as two syllables with a short /e/ (fi-EL) or compressing to one syllable (fe-male). Correct by maintaining two distinct nucleus vowels: /iː/ then /eɪ/. Another mistake is dropping the final /l/ or turning it into a dark L; keep a light, clear /l/ at the end. Practice with word pairs: FI-meeL vs Fi-EL, and emphasize the /eɪ/ glide between /iː/ and /l/. Finally, ensure your /m/ is bilabial and not nasalized into a nasal vowel.
US/UK/AU share /ˈfiː.meɪl/ with two syllables and a clear /iː/ followed by /meɪ/. In rapid speech, the /iː/ can reduce slightly, but most speakers maintain the /eɪ/ glide. Rhotic accents may introduce a subtle vowel centering before /l/; non-rhotic varieties keep r-less endings but here the final /l/ remains. Australian speech often features a slightly higher closing for /iː/ and a broader /eɪ/, with rapid syllable timing. All three maintain primary stress on the first syllable; the vowel height and quality are the main differences in connected speech.
The difficulty lies in the diphthong sequence /iː/ to /eɪ/ and the final /l/. The first vowel is tense and long, then the glide to /eɪ/ requires precise mouth widening and jaw lowering. The /l/ at the end can be ambiguous: light vs. dark L influences the perceived vowel quality of preceding segments. In fast speech, people may merge the middle vowel with adjacent sounds or reduce the second syllable; maintaining the clean /iː/ and /eɪ/ sequence is key. IPA awareness and deliberate practice help stabilize the pronunciation.
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Female originates from Middle English femele, from Old French femme meaning woman, ultimately from Latin femella, a diminutive of femina meaning woman. The root fem- is linked to fertility and bearing offspring, with related forms appearing in several Romance languages (fr. femme, sp. mujer is from muier). The word’s evolution traces a semantic narrowing: from generic woman to a more category-specific modifier in Latin-based languages. By the 14th–15th centuries, English used female primarily as a noun for a woman and later as an adjective in phrases like female helper or female voice. In modern English, female also carries broader uses in biology and gender discussions, often pairing with other terms (female-led, female-presenting, nonbinary contexts). The pronunciation stable but social usage has shifted, with some discourse preferring female as a neutral term and others preferring gendered identifiers. First known use in English dates to the 14th century, aligning with a family of words borrowed through Old French during the medieval period, mirroring the broader adoption of gendered terminology in Europe. Overall, the word’s sense has both biological and sociocultural dimensions that influence pronunciation stress and collocation in contemporary English.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "female" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "female" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "female"
-ale sounds
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