One syllable: jew.
joo
/dʒu/
jew is pronounced joo (/dʒu/). It has one syllable (jew), with the stress on "jew". A loaded noun referring to a person who belongs to the Jewish people or adheres to Judaism. In everyday use it is a neutral ethnoreligious label, but it can be offensive if used as a derogatory insult or in hostile context. Pronounced as a single syllable, with a short vowel and a voiceless consonant at the end, it’s often heard in phrases or as a stand-alone identifier.
A loaded noun referring to a person who belongs to the Jewish people or adheres to Judaism. In everyday use it is a neutral ethnoreligious label, but it can be offensive if used as a derogatory insult or in hostile context. Pronounced as a single syllable, with a short vowel and a voiceless consonant at the end, it’s often heard in phrases or as a stand-alone identifier.
- You may substitute /dʒ/ with a slower or hard /j/ sound as in 'yew', which changes the sound to /dʒu/ or /juː/. Correct by practicing the immediate release: /dʒ/ followed directly by /uː/ without a vowel hiatus. - Lip rounding and tongue position: avoid flattening lips or overly spread to disturb /uː/. Practice with a mirror to ensure proper rounding and back-of-mouth placement for the vowel. - Vowel elongation: some learners shorten /uː/ to /u/ or /ʊ/ in casual speech; practice long /uː/ with vowel focus drills and slow tempo to maintain length during fast speech.
To fix: practice slow, then normal pace repeating the sequence: /dʒ/ + /uː/, hold the vowel, then release. Use minimal pairs with /duː/ vs /djuː/ to train the exact sound boundaries. Use mouth-shape cues, lip rounding in the /uː/ stage, and ensure no extra syllables creep in.
"She travels to Israel to meet friends who identify as Jewish."
"The jew wearing a Star of David necklace spoke about his heritage."
"He studied Judaism and learned about the role of the rabbis in Jewish communities."
Pronounce it as a single syllable with the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate /dʒ/ followed by the long /uː/ vowel, ending with a voiceless /w/? actually /dʒuː/. IPA: /dʒuː/. Mouth position: front of the mouth, jaw slightly dropped, tip of the tongue near the alveolar ridge, lips rounded to match /uː/. Stress is on the one syllable. For audio references, you can search for /dʒuː/ on Cambridge or Forvo resources.
Common errors: treating the initial /dʒ/ as an English 'j' followed by a shorter vowel, producing /dʒju/ in a reduced way; or misarticulating the vowel as a lax /u/ like 'yew' without the proper length. Correct by ensuring the /uː/ is a long, rounded vowel with lip rounding and a clean stop after the /dʒ/ before the glide into /uː/. Keep jaw relaxed but not dropped and avoid adding a schwa between sounds.
US/UK/AU all use /dʒuː/, but rhotacization and vowel length can subtly shift. In some British varieties, the /uː/ may be held a touch longer and with less rounding; in Australian English, vowel quality may be slightly more centralized and the /dʒ/ onset can be crisper due to accent timing. Across these accents, the core is /dʒ/ + /uː/ as a single syllable; differences are mainly vowel quality and rhythm rather than core articulation.
Difficulties center on the vowel length and rounding of /uː/ in fast speech, and avoiding a secondary vowel like /juː/ that some learners produce due to familiar spellings. The /dʒ/ onset can also be tricky if not fully released. Focus on a single, clean /dʒ/ release and a full, rounded /uː/ to avoid gliding into /juː/. IPA helps you monitor the exact sound values.
The 'j' is not silent; it contributes the /dʒ/ sound, the same sound as in 'juice', 'jam', or 'jog'. The pronunciation begins with the voiced palato-alveolar affricate /dʒ/, released promptly into the long /uː/ vowel. There is no silent letter in standard pronunciation; the challenge is achieving a clean release of /dʒ/ and the correct length of /uː/.
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- US: /dʒuː/ with a fairly fronted tongue and rounded lips; rhotic accents won’t alter rhotics here, since it’s a vowel that doesn’t govern an /r/. UK: generally similar, but vowel quality leans toward a slightly less rounded /uː/ with subtle length differences; AU: often a crisper onset and a slightly more centralized /uː/. Reference IPA: /dʒuː/ for all. - Vowel: emphasize length and lip rounding. - Rhythm: single-syllable word often blends into surrounding words; practice word-final consonant clarity. - Lip and jaw: keep jaw relaxed; lips rounded in /uː/. - Placement: place tongue on alveolar ridge for /dʒ/ and then let the back of the tongue create a rounded /uː/ without adding extra vowels.
The word jew originates from the Old French judeu or jude, from Late Latin Iudaeus, from Greek Ioudaios, meaning a member of the tribe or people of Judah. In the Bible, Iudaeus referred to Judeans, later extended to inhabitants of the Kingdom of Judah and, by Christian usage, to Jewish people in general. By the 12th–13th centuries in English, the term jew denoted a person of Jewish faith or ethnicity, but it acquired negative connotations in European anti-Jewish rhetoric; in modern English, it remains a straightforward ethnoreligious identifier when used non-pejoratively, while sensitive usage depends on context. The semantic evolution tracks from a geographic/tribal label to a religious/ethnic identity, with the word’s reception shaped by history of Jewish communities in Europe and beyond. First known uses in English appear in medieval texts, aligning with Latin Iudaeus, and gradual formalization in religious and legal writings across centuries. The term’s social meaning has oscillated between neutral designation and loaded insult, depending on speaker intent and context. Modern usage emphasizes respectful, self-chosen identifiers, while remaining cognizant of potential offense in hostile framing.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "jew" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "jew"
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