3 syllables: gen, er, ate. Stress on gen.
JEN-ur-ayt
/ˈdʒɛnɚˌeɪt/
generate is pronounced JEN-ur-ayt (/ˈdʒɛnɚˌeɪt/). It has three syllables (gen-er-ate), with the stress on "gen". Generate means to cause something to come into being or to produce. It often refers to creating data, energy, or results, typically through a process or mechanism. The term spans technical, mathematical, and everyday contexts, emphasizing production or origination from inputs or conditions.
Generate means to cause something to come into being or to produce. It often refers to creating data, energy, or results, typically through a process or mechanism. The term spans technical, mathematical, and everyday contexts, emphasizing production or origination from inputs or conditions.
- You’ll hear and say the word as /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/ but the mental spelling biases you toward /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɡeɪt/ or /ˈdʒɛnɪˌreɪt/. Fix: keep the first syllable /ˈdʒɛn/ and avoid inserting an extra vowel before /reɪt/. - Another error is over-pronouncing the second syllable: avoid a lengthened /ə/; keep it weak. - A frequent slip is misplacing the /r/: in rhotic accents you’ll want a clear /r/ before the /eɪt/, but in non-rhotic accents, linking can make /r/ less audible before a vowel; practice keeping /r/ as a light, but present, cue before /eɪt/.
"The new software can generate reports in under a minute."
"Wind turbines generate electricity for the grid."
"The experiment is designed to generate a range of possible outcomes."
Pronounce as /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/. Start with a stressed first syllable: /ˈdʒɛn/, then a relaxed schwa /ə/ in the second syllable, and finish with /reɪt/. The primary stress is on the first syllable, with a secondary emphasis on the third syllable in some faster speech: /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/. Mouth positions: start with the voiced palato-alveolar affricate /dʒ/ as in judge, follow with /ɛ/ for the “den” vowel, glide into /ə/ (unstressed) and /r/ with a mild rhotic articulation, and finish with the diphthong /eɪ/ as in day. Audio cues: ensure the /dʒ/ is not devoiced, keep the /ɪ/ or /ɛ/ sound concise in the first syllable, then smoothly glide into /eɪt/.
Common mistakes include misplacing stress (say /ˈdʒɛnɪˌreɪt/ or /ˈdʒɛnə reɪt/ with incorrect syllable emphasis) and mispronouncing the /dʒ/ or /eɪ/ parts. Another frequent error is running the second syllable together too tightly, turning it into /ˈdʒɛnəreɪt/ without the natural light pause after /ˈdʒɛnə/. Correction: keep the primary stress on the first syllable /ˈdʒɛn/, pronounce the second syllable with a weak schwa /ə/ and then articulate the /reɪt/ clearly, ensuring the /r/ remains vocalic but not rolled; finish with a crisp /t/. Practice with slow tempo, then speed up while preserving the distinct /eɪt/ ending.
In US, UK, and AU, the core /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/ pattern remains, but rhoticity affects the /r/; US and AU rhotic accents pronounce a postvocalic /r/ (/ˈdʒɛnəˌr eɪt/ with an audible /r/ before the final vowel where applicable), whereas many non-rhotic UK accents link /r/ only before vowels and may reduce it in coda position. Vowel quality in /ɛ/ and /eɪ/ can be slightly more open in US, with UK possibly shorter /ə/ in the second syllable. Australian tends to be closer to General US/UK rhotic patterns but with vowel mergers slight differences in /ɪ/ vs /iː/ and a flatter /eɪ/. Overall, the primary stress and syllable structure stay constant.
Because it blends a staccato onset with a longer vowel sequence: /dʒ/ is a voiced affricate that requires precise tongue contact and release, while the /ɛ/ to /ə/ transition in /ˈdʒɛnə/ demands quick schwa reduction without losing consonant clarity. The /reɪt/ ending requires a clean glide from /r/ into a high front vowel /eɪ/ without elongating the final consonant. Non-native speakers often misplace the primary stress or run vowels together, reducing syllable separation. Practicing with slow tempo and clear phrase breaks helps maintain the rhythm and phonetic accuracy.
A distinctive feature is the optional secondary stress pattern in rapid speech where some speakers slightly emphasize the third syllable (/ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/) in careful speech, whereas in casual speech it can feel like /ˈdʒɛnəreɪt/ with a reduced middle vowel. Also, in connected speech, you may hear /nɪ/ or /nə/ reductions depending on context, but maintaining a clear /ˈdʒɛn/ onset helps anchor the word’s intelligibility in technical discourse.
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US vs UK vs AU: - US: Strong rhotic /r/; /dʒénəˌreɪt/ with a clear /ɹ/ before the final vowel on pause; use a slightly more open /ɛ/ in /dʒɛn/. - UK: Non-rhotic may drop post-vocalic r; ensure /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/ with a shorter /ə/ and crisper /t/. - AU: Similar to US but with more vowel shift in /æ/ and /eɪ/; vowel quality tends to be flatter, with less vowel height difference between /ˈdʒɛn/ and /əˌreɪt/. IPA references: US /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/, UK /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/, AU /ˈdʒɛnəˌreɪt/; emphasize rhoticity differences and subtle vowel shifts.
Generate comes from the Latin verb generare, meaning to beget, produce, or be born. Generare itself derives from genus, gener-, denoting race, kind, or birth. The earliest English use traces to the 1500s, often in scholastic or scientific writing, reflecting the growth of systematic production and creation concepts during the Renaissance. The sense broadened in engineering and mathematics in the 17th–19th centuries, with “generate” becoming a technical term for creating functions, data sets, or energy. By the 20th century, it entered common business and computing lexicon as systems and models began to generate outputs, results, and warnings. The word retained its core theme of emergence from a source, reinforcing the idea of causing something to come into existence rather than merely transforming it. In modern usage, generate is adaptable across domains from software generation to energy production, while preserving its root meaning of creation from underlying conditions or inputs.
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Words that rhyme with "generate"
-ate sounds
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