One syllable: game.
gaym
/ɡeɪm/
game is pronounced gaym (/ɡeɪm/). It has one syllable (game), with the stress on "game". Game refers to an activity pursued for amusement, competition, or leisure, or to wagering on outcomes within a structured pastime. It can describe both the activity itself and the set of rules or objectives that govern play. As an adjective, it can mean willing or prepared (e.g., 'game for a challenge'). The core sense is participation and engagement within a playful or strategic context.
Game refers to an activity pursued for amusement, competition, or leisure, or to wagering on outcomes within a structured pastime. It can describe both the activity itself and the set of rules or objectives that govern play. As an adjective, it can mean willing or prepared (e.g., 'game for a challenge'). The core sense is participation and engagement within a playful or strategic context.
"We spent the afternoon playing a cooperative board game."
"The video game industry has grown exponentially in the last decade."
"She was game to try the new sport, even though she was nervous."
Pronounce it as /ɡeɪm/. The initial g is a hard stop, followed by a long mid-front diphthong /eɪ/, then an unvoiced final /m/. In practice, you’ll close with a smooth glide from the /eɪ/ into /m/. Keep your lips relaxed, with the jaw slightly lowered for the /eɪ/ portion, and end with a crisp, closed-lip /m/. IPA guide: /ɡeɪm/. Audio resources: you can compare with heard examples on Pronounce or Cambridge dictionaries.
Two common mistakes: (1) Sloppy final consonant: dropping or voicing the /m/. Ensure lips seal and velum closure for a clean /m/. (2) Shortened vowel: compressing /eɪ/ into a near-e/ɪ/ sound in rapid speech. Focus on maintaining a clear /eɪ/ glide, even when talking fast. Practice by isolating /eɪ/ with a prolonged glide, then attach it to a final /m/.
In US/UK/AU, the core is /ɡeɪm/. US vowels often have a slightly clearer, tenser /eɪ/ in rapid speech; UK and AU may feature a marginally more centralized or rounded quality depending on region. All are rhotic? US and UK nonrhotic varieties may still pronounce /eɪ/ distinctly; /m/ is typically unvoiced to a crisp stop. Across these accents, the main variation is diphthong quality and vowel length, not the consonant cluster.
The difficulty often centers on the diphthong /eɪ/ and the final nasal /m/ transition. Some speakers compress the /eɪ/ into a lax /e/ or /eə/ in casual speech, which weakens the recognizable glide. Others produce an exaggerated /ɪ/ or align mouth posture with /eɪ/ by raising the tongue too soon for the final /m/. Focusing on the smooth transition from the /eɪ/ to the bilabial /m/ helps stabilize accuracy.
No; ‘game’ has no silent letters. The onset /ɡ/ is fully pronounced, the nucleus is the diphthong /eɪ/, and the coda /m/ is voiced. The challenge isn’t silent letters but achieving the right glide and closing of the lips for a clean /m/. Ensure you maintain voicing through the /m/ rather than a faint nasal murmur that can blur the word’s end.
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The word game comes from Old English gamm, geim, meaning ‘play, sport, pastime, or jest,’ with roots likely in Germanic languages. Early uses covered activities of recreation and amusement, and the sense broadened to include animals hunted for sport (game as prey) in medieval and early modern English. The verb form impede developments such as ‘to game’ a system, meaning to maneuver rules for advantage, appears later in the 16th–17th centuries, reflecting strategic behavior in competitions or gambling. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, ‘game’ retained the core idea of deliberate play and strategy, evolving in modern English to cover both leisure activities (board games, video games) and hunting contexts, as well as figurative senses (gamble, compete). The term’s ubiquity in modern lexicon mirrors the social prominence of play and competition across cultures, with usage in technology and media reinforcing its versatile nature.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "game" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "game" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "game"
-ame sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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