One syllable: fruits.
froots
/fɹuts/
fruits is pronounced froots (/fɹuts/). It has one syllable (fruits), with the stress on "fruits". Fruits are the edible seed-bearing products of plants, typically sweet-tasting and high in moisture. The term covers a wide range of botanical fruit types and culinary varieties. In everyday use, it often refers to sweet edible fruit parts consumed raw, though in botany ‘fruit’ has a precise structural meaning formed after fertilization.
Fruits are the edible seed-bearing products of plants, typically sweet-tasting and high in moisture. The term covers a wide range of botanical fruit types and culinary varieties. In everyday use, it often refers to sweet edible fruit parts consumed raw, though in botany ‘fruit’ has a precise structural meaning formed after fertilization.
"I bought a basket of mixed fruits for the picnic."
"Some people avoid fruit on certain low-carb diets."
"The smoothie used fresh fruits blended with yogurt."
Pronounce as /fruːts/. Start with an initial /f/ lip position, then a long, tense /uː/ vowel as in 'food', followed by the ending /ts/ cluster. Stress is on the syllable as a single unit since the word is monosyllabic. You’ll oscillate from the rounded, high back vowel to the alveolar /t/ + /s/ release—keep the /t/ not too aspirated, and finish with a crisp /s/.
Common errors include shortening the vowel to a lax /u/ or misplacing lip rounding, saying /fruts/ or /frjuːts/ with an unnecessary y-sound. Another mistake is inserting a separate syllable, like /ˈfruː-its/. To correct: keep the single syllable with a long /uː/ and tightly release into /ts/. Ensure your lips stay rounded through the vowel and relax only at the /t/ before the /s/.
The core /fruːts/ remains consistent in rhotic and non-rhotic accents as a monosyllable, but vowel length and tongue height can vary: US tends to have a tighter, slightly longer /uː/, UK often has a more rounded, slightly shorter /uː/, Australian is similar to UK but with a more centralized tongue and less vowel strength, especially in informal speech. The /t/ and /s/ are crisp in all, with occasional light aspiration in rapid speech.
The difficulty lies in producing a clean long /uː/ followed by the /ts/ cluster without inserting an extra vowel or adding an intrusive /j/ sound. The /t/ + /s/ sequence can fuse in fast speech, causing devoicing or a softened /s/. It requires precise timing and control of lip rounding, tongue position, and air release to avoid rhotic mispronunciations or a non-sibilant final.
A key feature is the final /ts/ sibilant cluster, which needs a crisp release right after the /t/. Many non-native speakers insert an extra vowel or misarticulate as /fruts/ or /fruːɪts/. The unique challenge is maintaining a single syllable with a prolonged /uː/ and a clean alveolar stop-evoked /t/ plus /s/ release.
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The word ‘fruit’ comes from Old French fruit, ultimately from Latin fructus, meaning pleasure, enjoyment, or fruit in a botanically generic sense. The Latin term stems from the verb frui, meaning to enjoy. In earlier English, fruit referred specifically to the edible seeds or seed-bearing structures of plants but gradually broadened to include the botanical fruits as well as culinary or market categories of edible produce. The plural form fruits emerged from the general pluralization of the noun to denote multiple seed-bearing structures or edible products. By the late Middle Ages, the sense of fruit as the harvestable produce taken from trees and plants had become common, while the modern botanical definition (the mature ovary of a flowering plant, often containing seeds) has parallel roots in Latin and Greek botanical traditions. The semantic shift from general edible goods to a technical botanical term was reinforced by agrarian and culinary usage across European languages, eventually solidifying the modern distinction between fruit and other produce in everyday English.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "fruits" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "fruits"
-its sounds
-ots sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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