2 syllables: in, jure. Stress on in.
IN-jur
/ˈɪndʒɚ/
injure is pronounced IN-jur (/ˈɪndʒɚ/). It has two syllables (in-jure), with the stress on "in". Injure means to inflict harm or damage on a person or body part, causing physical injury or harm that can range from minor to serious. It can also refer to harming someone’s reputation or prospects in a figurative sense. The verb is commonly used in medical, legal, sports, and everyday contexts, and it often appears in phrases like injure oneself or injure a leg.
Injure means to inflict harm or damage on a person or body part, causing physical injury or harm that can range from minor to serious. It can also refer to harming someone’s reputation or prospects in a figurative sense. The verb is commonly used in medical, legal, sports, and everyday contexts, and it often appears in phrases like injure oneself or injure a leg.
- You may overarticulate the final vowel; aim for a subtle, quick /ə/ or /ər/ so the word remains one syllable in practice rather than two. - The /n/ and /d͡ʒ/ can blur if you don’t separate the nasal and affricate cleanly; practice a crisp /n/ followed immediately by the /d͡ʒ/ with no interim vowel. - Confusing /ɪ/ with a more centralized vowel; keep the first vowel short and lax. Correction tips: practice with a tongue-ting rhythm, start with a slow deliberate /n/ then glide into /d͡ʒ/, then a light final schwa. Use minimal pairs to sharpen the transition (e.g., injure vs endure, injure vs anger) and record yourself to hear the subtle vowel reduction.
"He slipped on the wet floor and injured his ankle."
"The athlete tried to play through the pain but ended up injuring his knee."
"Careful handling is required to avoid injuring the sensitive equipment."
Pronounce injure as IN-jure. IPA US/UK/AU: /ˈɪn.dʒər/ or /ˈɪn.dʒə.R/ depending on dialect, with the final vowel commonly reduced to /ə/ or rhotacized /ər/ in rhotic accents. The stress is on the first syllable: IN-. The /dʒ/ is a single affricate as in judge, money the /ɪ/ in the first syllable is short and clipped. Mouth position: start with a light opening of the jaw, raise the tip of the tongue to just behind the upper front teeth to make the /n/ and immediately form the /d͡ʒ/ with a quick tongue-front closure, finishing with a relaxed schwa or rhotacized vowel.
Common mistakes: 1) Overemphasizing the final vowel and making it a full /ər/ in non-rhotic accents, 2) Turning /n/ into a nasalized or slipped vowel, 3) Misplacing the /d͡ʒ/ as /t͡ʃ/ or /d͡ʒ/ too front or too back. Corrections: keep the /ɪ/ short, deliver the /n/ quickly into the /d͡ʒ/ with a single tongue motion, and let the final /ə/ or /ər/ be light and unstressed. Practicing with minimal pairs like in-jure vs infuse or injure vs endure can help tune the transition from /n/ to /d͡ʒ/.
In US English, the /ɪ/ in the first syllable is a lax short vowel, and the final /ər/ tends to be rhotic. In UK English, /ə/ often reduces differently with less rhoticity in some dialects, producing a lighter final vowel. Australian English also features a reduced final vowel and a more centralized /ə/ with subtle vowel shifts. The /d͡ʒ/ remains an affricate across accents, but the timing and length of vowels can vary; rhoticity is a key differentiator in US vs UK/AU. IPA references: US /ˈɪn.dʒər/; UK /ˈɪn.dʒə/; AU /ˈɪn.dʒə/.
The difficulty comes from the rapid consonant cluster /n.d͡ʒ/ transition and the final reduced vowel. The sequence requires a quick, clean lift of the tongue to the alveolar ridge to produce /n/, then a precise, brief closure for /d͡ʒ/ without a gap, followed by a reduced vowel that doesn’t sound like a separate syllable. In non-rhotic dialects, the final vowel can be particularly weak, making the word sound almost like INJ-ər. Focus on the jaw tension and the timing between /n/ and /d͡ʒ/.
A key feature is the onset cluster that moves quickly from a nasal /n/ into the postalveolar affricate /d͡ʒ/. This requires anticipating the tongue tip position: you’ll raise the tip to touch the alveolar ridge for /n/, then snap into the /d͡ʒ/ by pressing the tongue against the post-alveolar region to create the 'judge' sound. The final vowel is typically reduced; don’t add extra stress there. Pronounce as IN-dʒər (~IN-dʒə) in non-emphatic speech.
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- US: rhotic /ɹ/ in the final syllable reduces to /ər/; emphasize the /ər/ without adding a true /ɜr/. - UK: more centralized final vowel, less rhoticity in many accents; the /r/ is not pronounced unless followed by a vowel. - AU: similar to UK with slightly broader vowel quality; final vowel tends to be a weak schwa. - Vowel nuance: /ɪ/ in the first syllable should stay lax and short; avoid a long /iː/. - Consonant focus: /n/ is alveolar, tip up; /d͡ʒ/ is post-alveolar; ensure a tight contact for the /d͡ʒ/ release.
The word injure comes from Middle French injurie, from Latin iniuria, meaning ‘injury, wrong, injustice.’ The Latin root iniuria combines in- ‘not, into’ with ius ‘law, right’ (original sense: violation of rights) and later broadened to mean physical harm. In English, injure appears in the late 13th/early 14th centuries as in- + jur- (to judge, to swear) via Old French injurie, shifting toward the modern sense of causing physical harm as medicine and law developed. Historically, the term has connected bodily harm with legal wrongdoing (e.g., injustices inflicting harm). Over time, usage broadened to neutral or purely physical contexts (injure a finger, injure one’s balance) and even figurative senses (injure one’s reputation). First known evidence in English is medieval legal/murgical contexts, with later widespread medical and athletic usage as sport safety and healthcare language matured. The semantic node linked to injury has remained stable: harm, impairment, damage due to impact or negligence. Domestic usage intensified with sports and workplace safety, while formal registers still respect the core meaning of inflicting physical or reputational damage.
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Words that rhyme with "injure"
-ure sounds
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