2 syllables: hun, ted. Stress on hun.
HUHN-tuhd
/ˈhʌntəd/
hunted is pronounced HUHN-tuhd (/ˈhʌntəd/). It has two syllables (hun-ted), with the stress on "hun". Hunted is the past participle and simple past tense of hunt, meaning someone or something has been pursued or hunted. It typically describes ongoing or completed chasing activity, often implying danger or pursuit. In everyday use, it can describe animals pursued by hunters or people targeted or sought after, and can carry a narrative or dramatic tone depending on context.
Hunted is the past participle and simple past tense of hunt, meaning someone or something has been pursued or hunted. It typically describes ongoing or completed chasing activity, often implying danger or pursuit. In everyday use, it can describe animals pursued by hunters or people targeted or sought after, and can carry a narrative or dramatic tone depending on context.
- You’ll often rush or merge the /t/ and /d/, making it sound like a single dash between syllables. To fix: practice slow, crisp [t] release between syllables: [ˈhʌn.tɪd].- The first vowel may reduce toward a schwa in rapid speech, turning into [hən.tɪd] instead of [ˈhʌn.tɪd]. Correct by maintaining [ʌ] in stressed position and only lightly reducing in the unstressed portion. - In casual speech, the final /t/ can be elided or flapped if followed by a vowel in connected speech. Practice with word pairs to ensure the t remains a defined stop before the final /d/.
"The deer were hunted for sport in the remote wilderness."
"Villagers felt they were hunted by rumors that circulated through the town."
"The detective hunted for clues that would crack the case."
Pronounce as two syllables: [ˈhʌn.tɪd]. The first syllable has primary stress. The vowel is a short open-mid back lax [ʌ] as in 'strut'. The second syllable uses a short [ɪ] before the final [d]. Keep the /t/ clearly released before the final /d/ in careful speech; in fast speech it can be lightly released or combined with the following boundary, sounding like [ˈhɜːn.tɪd] in some accents. Practice with a brief pause between syllables to confirm the beat: HUN-ted.
Common mistakes: (1) Slurring the /t/ into the /d/, producing a run-tied sound. Correction: clearly release a [t] before [d] or use a light pause: [ˈhʌn.tɪd]. (2) Vowel quality in the first syllable: avoid a lax [hən] vs [hʌn]. Correction: use [ʌ] as in 'strut' with relaxed jaw but mouth slightly open. (3) Final cluster: often drop the [t] or merge with [d]. Correction: ensure the [t] is audible; practice with a short [t] release before the final [d].
US: primary stress on the first syllable with [ˈhʌn.tɪd], rhotic and with a clear [t]; UK: similar [ˈhʌn.tɪd], often with a crisper [t], non-rhotic variants might reduce r sounds elsewhere; AU: similar to UK/US, sometimes a more centralized vowel in the first syllable and a glottal stop for /t/ in casual speech, but typically retains [t] in careful speech. Across all, the final -ed tends to be pronounced as [ɪd] or [tɪd], depending on the preceding consonant; here it’s usually [ɪd].
Because of the two-consonant cluster at the end and the short, lax vowel in the first syllable, many speakers insert a vowel or blur the t-d boundary. The presence of a definite t release before the final d in careful speech can feel awkward, and rapid speech may reduce the second syllable lightly, leading to [ˈhən.dɪd] or [ˈhʌn.tɪd] without full enunciation. Paying attention to the t release and reducing vowel reduction helps. IPA cues: [ˈhʌn.tɪd] with a clear [t] release.
The two-syllable, stressed-unstressed pattern with a final voiceless [t] released into a voiced [d] is a common difficulty. You must maintain voicing consistency: [t] is voiceless; [d] is voiced, so the transition can feel abrupt. Focus on a crisp [t] release and then a smooth [d], not a merged stop. IPA: [ˈhʌn.tɪd]. This combination tests your ability to separate stops in a fluent sequence.
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- US: Keep rhoticity in surrounding words; ensure the first vowel is [ʌ] in stressed position; the final -ed is [ɪd] here, so aim for a clear [ɪ] before the [d]. - UK: Crisp, dental [t] release; avoid over-voicing in the coda; maintain non-rhoticity in surrounding context. - AU: Similar to UK/US on the stress and final -ed; can have slightly flatter intonation; ensure the [t] remains distinct before [d]. IPA references: US [ˈhʌn.tɪd], UK [ˈhʌn.tɪd], AU [ˈhʌn.tɪd].
Hunted comes from the verb hunt, itself from Old English hund, hunda, related to Old Norse hundr and Dutch jacht, all connected to driving, pursuing, or chasing game. The past participle hunted appears in Middle English as hunteden and behaved similarly to other weak verbs formed with -ed. The core sense of chasing or pursuing remains intact through centuries, evolving from literal animal pursuit to broader human pursuit and the sense of being under threat or surveillance. The term’s use in literature often conveys danger, pursuit, or a state of having been sought after, whether in hunting narratives or metaphorical chases (e.g., hunted by critics). First known uses appear in medieval hunting literature and legal texts describing game laws, later expanding in Early Modern English to describe people metaphorically and in crime fiction as a status of being pursued. Modern usage broadens to include figurative stalking, surveillance, or emotional pursuit, retaining the core semantic field of pursuit and pressure. The phonology shifted with Great Vowel Shift-era English, but the pronunciation [ˈhʌn.tɪd] has remained relatively stable in standard varieties, with the t-d insertion or flap in rapid speech noted in some dialects.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "hunted" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "hunted"
-ted sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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