4 syllables: he, si, ta, ted. Stress on he.
HEZ-it-ay-tid
/ˈhɛzɪˌteɪtɪd/
hesitated is pronounced HEZ-it-ay-tid (/ˈhɛzɪˌteɪtɪd/). It has four syllables (he-si-ta-ted), with the stress on "he". Hesitated describes pausing before speaking or acting, often due to doubt or uncertainty. It conveys a momentary delay in decision or action, sometimes accompanied by mental calculation or reconsideration. In usage, it implies a fracture of immediacy, a brief suspension before clearly committing to words or choices.
Hesitated describes pausing before speaking or acting, often due to doubt or uncertainty. It conveys a momentary delay in decision or action, sometimes accompanied by mental calculation or reconsideration. In usage, it implies a fracture of immediacy, a brief suspension before clearly committing to words or choices.
"She hesitated before answering, weighing her words carefully."
"The speaker hesitated when the microphone crackled, choosing to pause rather than bluff."
"He hesitated at the edge of the platform, then stepped forward with caution."
Say /ˈhɛzɪˌteɪtɪd/. Start with an initial stressed HEH sound, then a quick /zɪ/ before a long /teɪ/ rising vowel, and finish with a syllabic /d/ as in /d/. The primary stress is on the first syllable HE-, with secondary rhythm on the third syllable teɪ. Keep the mouth relaxed for the /z/ and raise the tongue to the in-between position for /eɪ/. For accuracy, practice the sequence: HÉ-zih-TEY-tid, with crisp 'ted' ending.
Common errors include merging syllables too quickly—pronouncing it as ‘hesitated’ with weak or silent -ed, or flattening the /teɪ/ into a short /tɪ/ sound. Another frequent mistake is misplacing the primary stress, saying /ˈhɛzɪtɪd/ or /ˈhɛzɪˌtiːd/. To correct: clearly separate into HE-zih-TEY-tid, keep the /eɪ/ long, and pronounce the final /d/ distinctly. Practice with minimal pairs to stabilize the /teɪ/ vowel and ensure the final consonant lands as a crisp /d/.
In US/UK/AU, the primary stress remains on the first syllable HE-, but vowel quality varies. US often has /ˈhɛzɪˌteɪtɪd/ with a mid-front vowel /ɛ/, while some UK speakers may reduce to a slightly lighter /ˈhɛzɪˌteɪtɪd/ and Australian accents can show non-rhoticity lightly affecting connected speech; /ˈhɛzɪˌteɪtɪd/ remains common though final vowels may be slightly less clipped. Overall, the /teɪ/ diphthong is preserved across accents, but the speed and rhoticity of the /ɹ/ is a non-factor here since the word does not contain /ɹ/ in standard forms.
The difficulty lies in the multi-syllabic rhythm and the stressed first syllable with a long, mid-front /ɛ/ vowel, followed by a rapid shift to the /eɪ/ diphthong. The -ed ending also poses a challenge: deciding between /ɪd/, /tɪd/, or a reduced /d/ in fast speech. Additionally, the string /zɪˌteɪ/ requires clean articulation of the z- sound and turning the /eɪ/ into a clear glide before the final /t/ and /d/. Practice isolating the /t/ before /ɪd/.
A unique feature is the cemented /z/ in the second position after the initial /h/. Unlike many -ed endings, the /z/ is voiced and present in the first two syllables, making the sequence H-ES-ih-TAY-tid flow with strong onset and a clear /z/. The stress pattern remains strong on the first syllable, but the rhythm changes as you move into the /teɪ/ diphthong. Ensure the /teɪ/ is given a steady nucleus, not reduced, to avoid a stunted cadence.
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Hesitated comes from the verb hesitate, which traces to the Latin haesitare meaning 'to stick, cling, hesitate; to be uncertain.' Haesitare is formed from haesus (past participle of haerere, 'to stick, cling') and the suffix -itare. In late Latin, haesitāre evolved to describe wavering or doubting and was borrowed into Old French as hesiter, with the sense of being uncertain or pausing before action. By Middle English, hesiten or hesitate appeared as a direct loan from Old French or Latin lineage, carrying the core sense of pausing to consider options before speaking or acting. Over time, the meaning broadened to include any momentary delay in decision, whether vocalized or not, while still retaining the sense of deliberate doubt or caution. The word’s phonetic development aligns with English stress patterns: HE-si-ted, with the primary stress on the second syllable in many contexts when used as a past tense verb in declarative statements (heSITated) though common pronunciation may stress the first syllable in connected speech depending on emphasis. First known use in English can be traced to the 14th–15th centuries, aligning with the period’s influx of Latin-derived vocabulary via French in law, rhetoric, and science, where hesitation was a practical social and rhetorical ornament as much as a state of mind.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "hesitated" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "hesitated"
-ded sounds
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