One syllable: gills.
gilz
/ɡɪlz/
gills is pronounced gilz (/ɡɪlz/). It has one syllable (gills), with the stress on "gills". Gills are the respiratory organs of fish and some amphibians, facilitating gas exchange in water through filamentous structures. In humans, “gills” can be used metaphorically or in biological discussion. The term is plural of “gill” and is pronounced with a hard initial g, short /ɪ/ vowel, and a final /z/ sound, aligning with typical pluralization in English.
Gills are the respiratory organs of fish and some amphibians, facilitating gas exchange in water through filamentous structures. In humans, “gills” can be used metaphorically or in biological discussion. The term is plural of “gill” and is pronounced with a hard initial g, short /ɪ/ vowel, and a final /z/ sound, aligning with typical pluralization in English.
- You: Focus on 2-3 challenges: (1) Final cluster /lz/: Don’t separate /l/ and /z/ with a vowel; keep smooth contact and avoid an extra vowel between /l/ and /z/. (2) Initial /g/: Avoid voiceless or glottalized onset; ensure a clean explosive release. (3) Vowel: Don’t shorten /ɪ/ to a schwa in rapid speech; keep it as a short /ɪ/ for clarity. Practice by isolating each phoneme, then blending consecutively: /ɡ/ - /ɪ/ - /l/ - /z/; use a finger-tlick to mark transitions while speaking.
"The salmon’s gills flutter as it navigates the current."
"Biologists study how gills extract oxygen from water."
"In cartoons, animals sometimes flap their gills to illustrate underwater respiration."
You pronounce it as /ɡɪlz/ in US and UK; the initial /g/ is a hard g as in good, the vowel is a short lax /ɪ/ as in kit, and the final /lz/ cluster ends with a light z. In careful speech, emphasize the vowel before the final voiced /l/ and /z/—you’ll hear a brief onset before the /l/ and a crisp /z/ at the end. For Australian speech, expect the same /ɪ/ vowel, with a slightly shorter vowel duration in rapid speech; overall, /ɡɪlz/ is standard. Audio references: Cambridge, Oxford dictionaries; you can also listen to Forvo entries for ‘gill(s)’.
Common errors: (1) Slurring the /ɡ/ into the following vowel, producing something like /ɪlz/ at the start; ensure the initial /g/ is a distinct stop. (2) Voicing the /ɡ/ and then mispronouncing the final cluster as /lz/ or /lz/ without a clear /l/ release; keep the /l/ tip contact with the alveolar ridge before the /z/. (3) Over-nasalizing the /ɪ/ in rapid speech; keep a relaxed mouth and avoid raising the jaw too much. Correct these by practicing slow, precise phoneme isolation and then blending.
US and UK pronunciation align closely as /ɡɪlz/. Differences show up in rhotics and vowel length in connected speech: US tends to keep the /ɡ/ cleanly released and the /ɪ/ even, while UK varieties may have marginally shorter vowels in rapid speech and can vary in the perceived heaviness of the final /l/ in some dialects. Australian English generally preserves /ɡɪlz/ with a slightly more clipped /ɪ/ and a non-rhotic tendency in some regions, though most speakers articulate both /l/ and /z/ clearly in the final cluster. Overall, still /ɡɪlz/ across major dialects.
The difficulty lies in accurately sequencing three articulatory events in quick succession: a strong bilabial-velar /g/ stop release, a short /ɪ/ vowel, and a tight /lz/ final cluster. The /l/ needs a light alveolar contact while maintaining voicing for the /z/. In fast speech, these segments can blur into /ˈɡɪlz/ with reduced vowels or an indistinct /l/; practice with minimal pairs and rhythm drills helps stabilize the final cluster and prevent vowel reduction.
The noun plural always carries a final /z/ in English; with ‘gills’ you add the /s/ as a voiced /z/ phoneme in the final cluster, so it’s /ɡɪlz/. The singular ‘gill’ is /ɡɪl/ or /ɡɪl/ with no final z; some speakers may geminate the /l/ in careful speech, but the plural’s /z/ is essential for meaning.
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- US: Clear /ɡɪlz/ with a precise /ɡ/ release and alveolar /l/ followed by /z/. Vowel may be slightly lax, but avoid reducing /ɪ/ in slower speech. - UK: Slightly shorter vowel, crisper /l/; keep the /l/ touch on the alveolar ridge. - AU: Similar to US, but some speakers might vocalize the /ɪ/ more like /ɪə/ in rapid speech; maintain the short /ɪ/ to avoid vowel spill. Include IPA guides: /ɡɪlz/ in all three accents.
The word gill comes from Old English gill, related to Germanic languages, with cognates in Dutch and Swedish. It originally referred to the throat or a narrow channel in the body, later narrowing to the respiratory organ in fish. The plural form gills follows regular English pluralization by adding -s. The sense shift toward a specific aquatic respiration organ became prominent in Middle English medical and natural history texts as human anatomy and zoology terminology expanded. First known uses appear in 14th–15th century English medical treatises and natural histories describing fish anatomy. The term likely derives from Proto-Germanic *gilijô, related to gill in the sense of a cleft or slit, evolving into “gill” for a respiratory filament by metaphorical extension from the anatomical slit. Over time, as comparative anatomy developed in the 17th–19th centuries, “gill” solidified its place in scientific lexicon, evolving to include pluralization and compound terms (gill filaments, gill arches) used in ichthyology, zoology, and biomedicine. The term’s core imagery—filamentous, respiratory slits submerged in water—remains central to its meaning.
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Words that rhyme with "gills"
-lls sounds
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