One syllable: Hose.
hohz
/hoʊz/
Hose is pronounced hohz (/hoʊz/). It has one syllable (Hose), with the stress on "Hose". Hose is a flexible tube, typically made of rubber or plastic, used to convey liquids or gases. It can also refer to a pair of stocky, leg-covering garments worn outdoors. In common usage, it denotes a conduit for flow as well as a piece of outdoor apparel worn for warmth or protection. The term encompasses both objects and context-specific meanings depending on the sentence.
nounHose is a flexible tube, typically made of rubber or plastic, used to convey liquids or gases. It can also refer to a pair of stocky, leg-covering garments worn outdoors. In common usage, it denotes a conduit for flow as well as a piece of outdoor apparel worn for warmth or protection. The term encompasses both objects and context-specific meanings depending on the sentence.
How to Pronounce Hose
"The gardener attached the hose to the faucet and watered the plants."
"She wore knee-high hose to keep her legs warm during the chilly evening."
"Emergency responders rolled out the hose to reach the fire."
Hose is pronounced with a single syllable: IPA US/UK/AU: /hoʊz/. Start with the /h/ breathy onset, then a long /oʊ/ vowel as in 'go', and finish with the voiced /z/ sound. The mouth starts open, lips relaxed to admit the /oʊ/ vowel, then the tongue closes slightly for /z/. Stress is on the only syllable. Think 'hohz' with a gentle voice onset and a longer vowel than 'hot' but shorter than 'hose' in some regional varieties. Audio references: see standard dictionary pronunciations and credible pronunciation videos.
Two common errors are confusing it with 'hose' as in water tube vs 'hosts' or mispronouncing the /oʊ/ as a short /o/ as in 'hot' and misarticulating the final /z/ as /s/. To correct: maintain a clear long /oʊ/ glide from /o/ to /ʊ/ in the second half of the vowel, and gently voice the final /z/ rather than devoicing to /s/. Ensure gentle exposure to the voiced fricative by keeping the teeth close and vibrating the vocal cords. Practice with minimal pairs 'hose' vs 'hose' (hose vs 'host') to feel the difference in vowel length and voicing.
In General American, /hoʊz/ with a rhotic, clear /oʊ/ and voiced /z/. In UK English, some speakers reduce to /həʊz/ or may have a slightly shorter /oʊ/ diphthong and less intense final velar fricative; the /r/ is not pronounced. Australian English similarly uses /hoʊz/ but with a more centralized starting vowel and a non-rhotic tendency, though most younger speakers maintain the /z/ clearly. Overall, vowel quality and length vary, but final /z/ remains a voiced alveolar fricative in all three accents.
The difficulty lies in producing a clean long diphthong /oʊ/ and the voiced final /z/ without transforming into /s/ or /ɪ/ variants in rapid speech. For some learners, the gliding from /o/ to /oʊ/ and maintaining voicing across the final consonant is challenging, especially when adjacent words influence the breath and voicing. Additionally, distinguishing similar sounds like 'hose' and 'his' or 'host' requires precise mouth positioning and auditory discrimination. Focus on keeping the tongue open, lips rounded for the /oʊ/, and steady vibration for /z/.
A unique aspect is the combination of a long vowel with a voiced final consonant in a single-syllable word, which can be softened or rushed in connected speech. In fast speech, you may hear 'hoze' compressing the moment between vowel onset and voicing. The contrast with near-homographs like 'hose' (hosepipe) and 'hosts' hinges on vowel duration and voicing. Paying attention to the mouth opening early and sustaining voice through the /z/ solidifies clarity.
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Hose derives from Old English hos, hose, a garment covering the leg and foot, related to Dutch hose and German Hosen. The noun referring to an elongated tube emerged in the late 16th to early 17th century as technology developed for directing liquids and gases. The sense of a flexible conduit parallels other tools that channel fluids, such as pipes and tubes, with early English texts using hose to describe both clothing and tubing. Over time, the garment sense and the tubing sense diverged into distinct modern meanings, with hoses in the plumbing/industrial realm and hosiery referring to leg coverings. The usage broadened in literature and industry through the 18th–20th centuries, aligning with the expanding array of rubber, plastic, and synthetic materials used to manufacture hoses. First known printed uses appear in technical manuals and household contexts during the 1600s–1700s, gradually stabilizing into the current dual meaning recognized in contemporary English.” ,
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Hose" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Hose" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Hose"
-ose sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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