2 syllables: laun, dries. Stress on laun.
/ˈlɔndɹiz/
Say it backLaundries refers to places or facilities where clothes are washed, or to the act of washing clothes—often used in plural as ‘the laundries’ to denote washing facilities in a household, hotel, or district. It can also denote the annual or routine collection of laundries, as a service or industry. The term emphasizes the activity and places of laundering rather than the garments themselves.
"- The hotel offers self-serve laundries for guests."
"- She did the laundries early in the morning before work."
"- The apartment building has shared laundries on every floor."
LAWN-drees (IPA US: ˈlɔːn.driz; UK/AU often ˈlɔːn.driːz with a slightly longer vowel in the final syllable). The first syllable bears primary stress. Start with an open back vowel in the first syllable, then glide into a voiced alveolar nasal followed by a voiced alveolar approximant. The final syllable uses a rhotic-ish ending in US and a more clipped /iː/ in some UK/AU variants. Mouth position: jaw drop, lips relaxed, tongue low for /ɔː/; keep /d/ soft but audible; finish with /ɹ/ or /z/ depending on accent. For listening reference, try listening to native speakers saying “laundries” in natural sentences.
Common errors include blending the /lɔː/ into a quick ‘law’ plus an unclear /dr/ cluster, and mispronouncing the final /z/ as /s/. To correct: ensure clear /l/ onset, keep the /ɔː/ vowel long enough before the /n/, then articulate /dr/ as a discrete consonant cluster rather than a softened /d/ plus a lazy /r/. End with a voiced /z/ rather than a voiceless /s/. Practicing with minimal pairs like ‘laud-’ vs ‘lown-’ can reinforce the difference. You’ll hear a steadier, crisp ending in confident pronunciation.
In US English, the final sound tends toward a voiced /ɹ/ plus /z/ depending on region, and the /ɔː/ vowel may be slightly longer. UK English commonly features a shorter /ɔː/ and a crisper /d/ before /ɹ/ or /z/, with less rhotics in non-rhotic regions. Australian pronunciation often shows a broader vowel and a more fronted /eɪ/ or /ɪ/ in the final syllable in some speakers. Overall, stress remains on the first syllable; the main variance lies in vowel quality and rhoticity affecting the trailing /iː/ or /i/ quality.
Three features make laundries tricky: the /ɔː/ vowel in the first syllable can be long and tense, the /ndr/ consonant cluster needs smooth timing without breaking into separate syllables, and the final /z/ is voiced and must stay connected to the preceding vowel without breaking into a voiceless /s/. Additionally, the plural -ies spelling can mislead you to insert an extra syllable; you should keep the word as two syllables with primary stress on the first.
Yes. The English plural often influences vowel reduction and syllable timing; here the first syllable is stressed, with a relatively long vowel /ɔː/ in most dialects. You should avoid inserting an extra syllable after /ɔː/ and similarly avoid turning the /dr/ into a separate syllable. The key is crisp /dr/ transition into the final /ɪz/ or /iːz/ depending on dialect. Practicing with sentences where laundries is clearly linked to a nearby word will help you maintain natural rhythm.
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Laundries derives from the noun laundry, which itself comes from the Old French linge or lingerie meaning linen, clothing, or wash. The Middle English form lavendre, from Old French lavandre or lavandiere, references washing or a place where washing occurs. The suffix -ies marks the plural or collective sense in English, historically denoting places or bodies of a specified activity rather than individual items. The word’s modern sense plateaus as a compound noun referring to facilities for washing clothes, or the industry around washing, with the plural laundries capturing multiple facilities or instances. The term has long co-evolved with domestic life, hotels, and industrial laundries, gaining broader usage in contexts like “the laundries” to describe places rather than the act itself. First known uses appear in Middle English texts describing washhouses and services, with standardized spelling and pluralization forming in Early Modern English as literacy and printing popularized standardized English spellings. The evolution reflects social organization around household management and commercial cleaning, shifting from a basic verb-noun relationship to a broader pluralized noun indicating multiple institutions or facilities dedicated to laundering.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "laundries" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "laundries" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "laundries"
-ies sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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