One syllable: grace.
grays
/ɡɹeɪs/
grace is pronounced grays (/ɡɹeɪs/). It has one syllable (grace), with the stress on "grace". Grace refers to smooth, elegant movement or bearing, often paired with a sense of mercy or favor. It can describe a poised demeanor, a refined manner, or a benevolent act. In linguistics, it is a one-syllable word carrying a long vowel and a soft final consonant, commonly used in formal and literary contexts as well as everyday speech.
Grace refers to smooth, elegant movement or bearing, often paired with a sense of mercy or favor. It can describe a poised demeanor, a refined manner, or a benevolent act. In linguistics, it is a one-syllable word carrying a long vowel and a soft final consonant, commonly used in formal and literary contexts as well as everyday speech.
- 2-3 phonetic challenges: (1) Vowel diphthong drift: turning /eɪ/ into /ɛ/ or /e/, common in rapid speech. Correction: practice keeping the /eɪ/ nucleus by isolating the vowel in front of the jaw-closed, lip-spread position. (2) Final consonant blending: adding extra voice to /s/ or letting it sound like /z/. Correction: finish with a crisp, voiceless /s/ with only a light breath. (3) /ɡ/ onset mis-timing: the tongue can strike the palate too late or too early. Correction: start with a strong /ɡ/ closure, then glide into /reɪs/; keep the tongue body high behind the alveolar ridge. or practice, use 2-3 minimal pairs: grace, grates; grade, grace; gray, craze. ocus on the clean onset, crisp /eɪ/ diphthong, and silent final s; avoid accidental voicing on the final consonant.
"She moved with effortless grace across the dance floor."
"The teacher showed grace by giving the student a second chance."
"In her letter, she asked for grace and understanding rather than judgment."
Pronounce it as /ɡreɪs/. The onset is a hard /ɡ/ as in go, the vowel is the diphthong /eɪ/ (as in day), and it ends with a voiceless /s/. Stress is on the single syllable, so there’s no secondary stress. Ensure the /r/ is rhotic in US accents and lightly touched in non-rhotic UK accents before the /eɪ/ vowel, then release into /s/. For reference, listen to native models on pronunciation sites and contrast with “graceful” where the /fəl/ adds another syllable. IPA: US/UK /ɡreɪs/; AU /ɡɹeɪs/.
Common errors: (1) Slurring the vowel into a schwa, producing /ɡrəːs/ or /ɡræs/. (2) Damping the /r/ too softly in US; in careful speech you should retain a brief /ɹ/ before /eɪ/. (3) Turning /eɪ/ into a simple /e/ or /ɛ/ in fast speech. Correction: keep the nucleus as the /eɪ/ diphthong, begin with /ɡ/ and end with a crisp /s/. Visualize the mouth moving from a round lip position to a spread, and avoid tensing your jaw during the glide. Practice with careful pacing and slow repetition to stabilize the diphthong.
In US accents, /ɡreɪs/ with rhotic /r/ before the vowel; in many UK accents it’s non-rhotic pre-vocalic, so the /r/ is not pronounced before the vowel, but the /eɪ/ remains; in Australian English, the /ɡ/ and /ɹ/ may fuse more lightly and the /eɪ/ can be more centralized. The final /s/ is clear in all, but the preceding vowel quality may be a bit tenser in American speech and more centralized in British and Australian accents. IPA references: US /ɡreɪs/, UK /ɡreɪs/, AU /ɡɹeɪs/.
The main challenge is producing the /eɪ/ diphthong smoothly while maintaining a crisp final /s/. Some speakers shorten it to a simple /e/ or slip into /æ/ in rapid speech. The /g/ onset can blur when the lips aren’t well-timed with the tongue height for the /eɪ/. Also, non-rhotic speakers may drop or mellow the /r/, which changes the perceived vowel quality. Mastery requires precise tongue height, lip rounding, and a relaxed jaw to keep the diphthong clean.
The stress is monomorphic (one syllable) and typically not reduced in connected speech, even in casual contexts. The critical nuance is sustaining the /eɪ/ glide clearly; listeners perceive a bright, almost musical quality if the glide is kept distinct. If you sequence to ‘graces’ with a plural /ɪz/, you shift the final consonant to /z/; keep it /s/ for grace as a standalone noun or verb form. IPA: /ɡreɪs/.
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- US differences: rhotic /r/ pronounced, vowel /eɪ/ slightly tenser, clearer /ɹ/ before the diphthong. UK differences: often non-rhotic before vowels, /r/ not pronounced; /eɪ/ can be more centralized, subtle. AU differences: similar to US but with broader vowel space and less precise rounding; /ɹ/ is tapped or approximant-like in some contexts; keep a fronted /eɪ/ vowel with a very light /s/ closure. Reference IPA: US /ɡreɪs/, UK /ɡreɪs/, AU /ɡɹeɪs/; Practice: mimic native speakers across cue words to hear the vowel quality and final fricative.
Grace comes from the Old French word grant or grac, ultimately tracing to the Latin gratia meaning favor, favoring, or thanks. The Latin gratia evolved in medieval Latin to gratia as ‘favor, kindness, grace’ and was adopted into Old French as grace, retaining the sense of benevolence or pleasing quality. The word spread into Middle English as grace, paralleling religious and secular uses: divine grace (unmerited favor from God) and human grace (elegant movement, beauty). The core meaning of “favor or kindness” expanded into social and aesthetic realms, including the grace of movement, the grace of manners, and the grace of a prayer before meals. Over centuries, the word acquired additional senses: a short prayer for blessings; a period of mercy or leniency; and the expression “grace under pressure.” Its first known English attestations appear in religious and chivalric contexts, with usage becoming more general in Early Modern English as literary and rhetorical devices adopted the term for elegance and refined demeanor. Today, grace simultaneously denotes spiritual mercy and bodily elegance, while retaining its historical link to gratitude and favor.
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Words that rhyme with "grace"
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