3 syllables: In, jur, y. Stress on In.
IN-jur-ee
/ˈɪndʒɚi/
Injury is pronounced IN-jur-ee (/ˈɪndʒɚi/). It has three syllables (In-jur-y), with the stress on "In". Injury is harm or damage to a person or tissue, typically resulting from an accident or attack. It can refer to physical harm, medical injuries, or injuries to one’s reputation or status. In everyday use, it often appears in discussions of health, sports, or emergencies and can describe both minor scrapes and serious trauma.
nounInjury is harm or damage to a person or tissue, typically resulting from an accident or attack. It can refer to physical harm, medical injuries, or injuries to one’s reputation or status. In everyday use, it often appears in discussions of health, sports, or emergencies and can describe both minor scrapes and serious trauma.
How to Pronounce Injury
"- He suffered a minor injury while playing soccer and had to sit out practice."
"- The doctor said the patient’s injury was not serious but required stitches."
"- Report any injury to HR so they can update your records."
US/UK/AU pronunciation is /ˈɪn.dʒə.ri/ with primary stress on the first syllable. Break it as IN-jur-ee: the first vowel is a short lax i, the middle is a schwa, and the final vowel is a long e-like vowel or a reduced 'ee' sound in rapid speech. Your lips stay relaxed through /ɪ/ and /ə/, with the tongue lightly touching the alveolar ridge for /dʒ/ (the “j” sound). You’ll want a clear, light /r/ in non-rhotic varieties where rhoticity is reduced or silent; in rhotic accents you’ll hear a subtle /ɹ/ before the final vowel. Audio reference: try saying it slowly: /ˈɪn.dʒə.ri/ and then speed up.
Common errors include turning /ˈɪn.dʒə.ri/ into /ˈɪn.dʒa.ri/ by mispronouncing the middle schwa as a plain /a/, and misplacing the /dʒ/ as in /dʒɪ/ or incorrectly sustaining the first vowel, like /ˈɪnɡə.ri/. Another frequent slip is omitting the final vowel, ending with /ˈɪndʒəri/ -> /ˈɪndʒɜr/ or dropping the final /i/ sound. Correction: keep the middle /ə/ (unstressed), ensure the /dʒ/ blends smoothly, and finish with a clear /ri/; practice with word pairs like injury vs. injure to notice the final vowel presence.
In US English, you typically hear /ˈɪn.dʒə.ɹi/ with a rhotic final /ɹi/. In UK English, final r is often not rhotic, giving /ˈɪn.dʒə.ri/ with a shorter /i/ and less pronounced /ɹ/ before a vowel-initial phrase. Australian English tends to be non-rhotic with a clear /ə/ and a slightly longer vowel for /ɪ/. Across all, the middle /ə/ remains a schwa, but the quality and rhoticity of the final /ri/ segment varies regionally. Focus on keeping the middle unstressed and ensuring the /dʒ/ is a single, smooth blend.
The challenge lies in the /dʒ/ cluster blending with a short, reduced middle vowel. Many learners oversimplify the /ə/ to /æ/ or miss the subtle palate positioning for /dʒ/, turning it into a hard /d/ or /j/ sequence. Also, the rapid transition from /n/ to /dʒ/ can blur, and the final /ri/ can reduce too much, losing the crisp /i/ sound. To master it, isolate the syllables, practice /n/ + /dʒ/ smoothly, and emphasize the schwa in the second syllable while keeping the final /i/ distinct.
A unique feature is the strong onset consonant cluster /ndʒ/ resulting from the combination of /n/ and the affricate /dʒ/. The syllable boundary is clean between the first and second syllables, but the /dʒ/ can subtly fuse with the preceding /n/ in fluent speech. You can feel a tiny air constriction as the tip of the tongue lightly contacts the alveolar ridge before releasing into /dʒ/. This micro-dynamics matter when filming or mimicking native speech.
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US: rhotic /ɹ/ before vowel; keep final /i/ tight and rhoticity present in connected speech. UK: non-rhotic tendencies; final /ɹ/ reduces; middle /ə/ is neutral and sometimes shorter. AU: often non-rhotic; vowels can be broader; final /i/ can be slightly longer. Vowel shifts: /ɪ/ in US is clipped; UK/AU may show slight lengthening in stressed syllable. IPA references: /ˈɪn.dʒə.ri/ with rhotic /ɹ/ in US if followed by vowel; /ˈɪn.dʒə.ri/ in non-rhotic variants. Practice by saying in phrase: “a minor injury” to feel connected speech and rhythm.
Injury comes from the Old French injury, from Latin injurium, from injurare ’to wrong, injure, hurt,’ from in- ‘not’ + jus/jur- ‘right, law’ (akin to ‘justice’). The sense evolution tracked from “an injustice, harm” to “damage or harm to the body” by the late Middle English period. The word appeared in English medical and legal texts to denote damage or wrong done to a person, gradually adopting broader senses of physical harm and reputational harm. By the 17th–18th centuries, injury commonly referred to bodily damage in medical discourse, with metaphorical uses emerging in legal and moral contexts. The core idea remains: something that causes harm, impairment, or wrong to a person or their body, often implying an external agent or accident rather than a voluntary act.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Injury" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Injury" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Injury"
-rry sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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