2 syllables: fe, vers. Stress on fe.
FEE-vurz
/ˈfivɚz/
fevers is pronounced FEE-vurz (/ˈfivɚz/). It has two syllables (fe-vers), with the stress on "fe". Fevers denotes plural cases of fever, a condition characterized by elevated body temperature. The term is used medically and colloquially to describe symptoms of illness with heat, chills, or sweating. As a common noun in clinical and everyday contexts, fevers can be described as mild, moderate, or high, and often influence clinical assessment or patient comfort.
Fevers denotes plural cases of fever, a condition characterized by elevated body temperature. The term is used medically and colloquially to describe symptoms of illness with heat, chills, or sweating. As a common noun in clinical and everyday contexts, fevers can be described as mild, moderate, or high, and often influence clinical assessment or patient comfort.
"Her fever spiked after the flu vaccine, so she stayed home from work."
"The doctor noted several fevers over the week, prompting further tests."
"In many regions, fevers accompanying headaches are treated with rest and fluids."
You say FE-vərz, with primary stress on FE-. The first syllable uses /iː/ as in 'see' and the second syllable uses a schwa /ə/ before the final /z/. IPA: US/UK /ˈfiːvərz/; AU tends toward /ˈfiːvəz/ in some speakers. Keep the mouth rounded slightly for /iː/ and relax the jaw for /ə/; end with a clear voiced /z/.
Common errors include misplacing stress (saying fi-VERS) and reducing the second syllable to a quick /ɪ/ or /ə/ that sounds like 'fivers.' Another pitfall is devoicing the final /z/ to /s/. To correct: maintain strong first-syllable stress /ˈfiː/ and finish with a voiced alveolar sibilant /z/; keep the second syllable unstressed but clearly audible as /ər/ or /əz/ depending on accent.
In US and UK, fevers is /ˈfiːvərz/ with rhotic /r/ in US pronunciations and a rhotic/ non-rhotic distinction in some UK variants; most UK speakers still produce /ˈfiːvəz/ with a light or merged /ər/ due to rhoticity. Australian speech generally aligns with /ˈfiːvəz/ or /ˈfiːvəz/ with a slightly monopthongized first vowel and a non-stressed second syllable; final /z/ remains voiced. Overall, vowel quality remains tense /iː/; non-rhotic UK can reduce /ər/ to schwa plus r-color, while US keeps full /r/.
The difficulty lies in achieving a clean, long /iː/ in the first syllable followed by a smooth, unstressed /ər/ or /əz/ in the second, while preserving the voiced /z/ end. Non-native speakers often mispronounce as /ˈfeɪvərz/ or drop the /r/ entirely. The key is sustaining tenseness in the /iː/ without making the second syllable too nasal, and transitioning quickly into the voiceless-to-voiced boundary before /z/.
Does 'fevers' ever reduce the first syllable to /fiv/ in rapid speech, and how can you avoid that? In natural speech, the first syllable should remain /fiː/; avoid reducing to /fɪ/ or /fɪv/ by practicing with slow deliberate articulation and listening to native models saying 'fevers' in context. The vowel should stay tense; keep the tongue high for /iː/, and ensure the /z/ is voiced and not devoiced in rapid speech.
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Fever originates from the Latin word febris, which entered English via Old French fever, ultimately inheriting its sense of elevated body temperature as a clinical symptom. The noun febris appears in Classical Latin medical texts and early medieval Latin medical glossaries. In Middle English, feuer or feueremo referred to a fever, later standardized to fever/fevers in the modern period. The plural form fevers is used when referring to more than one instance of fever, whether in patients or time-bound fever spikes. The term has long been embedded in medical discourse, from Hippocratic and Galenic traditions through the emergence of clinical observation in the 18th and 19th centuries, and remains a common, everyday descriptor for illness and infectious disease surveillance. The word also migrated into colloquial usage in modern times, especially in pediatrics and epidemiology, where fever counts aid triage and public health messaging. The evolution shows a shift from a strictly clinical symptom to a general indicator of illness severity and patient comfort, preserved in both clinical notes and lay conversation.
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Words that rhyme with "fevers"
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