One syllable: Graze.
grayz
/ɡɹeɪz/
Graze is pronounced grayz (/ɡɹeɪz/). It has one syllable (Graze), with the stress on "Graze". Graze is a verb meaning to touch or feed on something lightly, or to injure the surface of something by scraping. It often implies a light, brushing contact or a near-miss with a surface, sometimes with a small injury. The term can also refer to animals feeding on grass, or to deviate slightly from a threshold or boundary.
verbGraze is a verb meaning to touch or feed on something lightly, or to injure the surface of something by scraping. It often implies a light, brushing contact or a near-miss with a surface, sometimes with a small injury. The term can also refer to animals feeding on grass, or to deviate slightly from a threshold or boundary.
"The cow will graze in the meadow after breakfast."
"Be careful not to graze the car against the wall when parking."
"Her hand grazed his sleeve as she passed by."
Graze is pronounced /ɡreɪz/. Start with a hard /ɡ/ as in get, then the vowel sounds like /eɪ/ as in say, followed by the voiced /z/ at the end. The stress is on the single syllable word: /ɡreɪz/. The mouth starts with a closed velar /g/, glides into the mid-front vowel /eɪ/ with the tongue high-mid, and finishes with the voiced alveolar fricative /z/. Think: ‘g-rayz’. Audio reference: you can hear this on many dictionaries or pronunciation resources by searching “graze pronunciation.”
Two common errors are: 1) pronouncing it as /ɡreɪz/ with a hard, clipped final consonant that sounds like /s/ vs /z/. Make sure the ending is voiced /z/, not voiceless /s/. 2) misplacing the vowel as / ɛ/ (like 'gray' with a short e). Use /eɪ/ as in 'say' to avoid an off-by-one vowel sound. A quick correction: hold the /eɪ/ vowel longer, then release into the /z/ with voicing continuing through the end of the word.
Across accents, the core phoneme sequence is the same: /ɡreɪz/. The main variance is vowel quality: US tends to be a clear /eɪ/ in the tense vowel; UK often maintains a slightly more centralized or clipped /eɪ/ depending on the speaker; Australian can have a bit more diphthongal movement. The final /z/ remains voiced in all. In fast speech, some accents may reduce the vowel slightly or merge with a near-sounding / rəɪz/ in connected speech. Overall, the rhythm and voicing are stable, with vowel height slightly influenced by regional vowel shifts.
Graze hinges on two precise articulations: the initial /ɡ/ velar stop must be clean, and the diphthong /eɪ/ must begin with an open-mid to close-mid tongue position and glide to the high front position. The final /z/ requires sustained voicing without letting it sound like /s/. For non-native speakers, distinguishing /eɪ/ from /ɛ/ and keeping voicing through the end of the word are common challenges. Practice by isolating /ɡ/ and /eɪ/ separately, then merge with the final /z/ in connected speech.
Graze has no silent letters and is a monosyllable with strong vowel-voicing cues. The sole syllable carries primary stress by default (the entire word). The important features are the voiced final /z/ and the diphthong /eɪ/. Be sure to sustain voice through the /z/ as you would with other voiced sibilants, and avoid truncating the final sound into a short /s/. The word’s rhythm should feel smooth and single-beat.
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Graze comes from Middle English grasnen, itself from Old French garsier meaning to nibble or feed on grass. The notion of feeding on grass is central to its earliest senses. The word expanded in the 15th century to include the sense of brushing against or scraping a surface, likely by analogy with grazing cattle that lightly feed, which involves light contact with the ground or vegetation. The metaphorical senses—near-nick or almost reaching a boundary—emerged as the physical act of grazing a surface suggested a light, incidental contact rather than a solid strike. By the 1800s, the term solidified in modern English with the dual primary uses still common today: grazing animals (pasture-based feeding) and light contact with a surface (brush or touch). The word retains a compact, action-focused image: a soft, grazing touch rather than a full impact, which helps explain its portability across contexts such as injuries, surfaces, and even metaphorical thresholds.—This etymology tracks the word through Germanic roots into Romance influence, illustrating how a simple pastoral image evolved into a precise physical and figurative verb in contemporary English.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Graze" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Graze" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Graze"
-aze sounds
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