2 syllables: im, mune. Stress on mune.
/ˌɪˈmjun/
Say it backImmune denotes being resistant or protected against a particular disease or infection. It also describes a system or person that is exempt from a particular rule or obligation. In medical contexts, it often refers to the body's ability to resist pathogens, typically via immune responses or immunity to a disease after exposure or vaccination.
"Her immune system weakened during illness, making her more susceptible to infections."
"Many people have effective immunity to certain childhood diseases after vaccination."
"A person might be immune to criticism when they remain calm and focused under pressure."
Pronounce it as i-ˈmjuːn, two syllables: ih-MYOON. The key is a clean /ɪ/ to /mjuː/ transition with the /j/ acting as a glide: /ɪ.mjuːn/. Stress falls on the second syllable. You can reference standard pronunciation in dictionaries, and listen to native speakers for the /mjuː/ cluster. Mouth position: start with a relaxed /ɪ/ then a quick, rounded /m/ into /j/ blending into /uː/ then final /n/. IPA US: ɪˈmjuːn; UK: ɪˈmjuːn; AU: ɪˈmjuːn.
Two common errors: 1) Slurring /mjuː/ into /mj/ or misplacing the /j/ causing a ‘mih-moon’ or ‘im-you-n’ sound. 2) Misplacing stress, saying /ˈɪmjuːn/ instead of /ɪˈmjuːn/. Correction: keep /m/ and /j/ together as a single glide /mju/ and stress the second syllable. Practice with slow pronunciation: ɪ - mjuːn, then accelerate while maintaining the /mju/ cluster clearly.
US/UK/AU share /ɪˈmjuːn/, with subtle rhotics and vowel length differences. US often retains a slightly shorter first vowel before /m/, and rhoticity is less about 'r' here but about preceding vowel length. UK tends to same two-syllable with slightly shorter /ːu/ rounding, AU often mirrors UK but with a crisper vowel and slightly more rounded /uː/. All keep /mjuː/ as a single consonant cluster; differences are mainly in vowel quality and tendency to flap or reduce adjacent vowels in fast speech.
The difficulty lies in the /mjuː/ cluster, which requires blending /m/ with a palatal glide /j/ into a long /uː/ vowel without an extra syllable. Beginners often separate /m/ and /juː/ or insert a vowel between /m/ and /j/, producing ‘im-you-nee.’ Also, the secondary stress may be misapplied when speaking quickly. Focus on keeping /m/ and /j/ tightly connected and the /uː/ elongated through the second syllable.
There are no silent letters in immune; the difficulty is in the two-syllable structure and the consonant-vowel-glide sequence. The stress is on the second syllable (i-MYOO-n). Some non-native speakers briefly de-emphasize the second syllable or break the /mjuː/ into separate sounds. Practice maintaining a tight /mjuː/ sequence and keeping the final /n/ crisp to avoid a nasalized ending.
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Immune comes from the Latin immunis, meaning exempt from public duties or burden, which itself derives from in- (not) + munis (duty, service, protection). The root munis is linked to the word munus (duty, gift). Through the Latin immunis, it entered Old French as immune, and later Middle English with the sense of exempt or excused from obligations. In medical usage by the 19th century, immune shifted to describe biological protection from disease, aligning with immunology terms like immunity, immune system, and vaccination. The evolution mirrors broader social meaning of exemption into the specialized biomedical context: the body’s defense system granting protection against pathogens, often through cellular and humoral responses. First known uses in English appear in medical texts of the 18th–19th centuries, with more widespread adoption in the 19th century as immunology emerged as a formal field. Today, immune is a common term across clinical, public health, and everyday language, retaining both senses of exemption and biological protection.
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Words that rhyme with "immune"
-oom sounds
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