2 syllables: Ma, roon. Stress on roon.
mur-OON
/mɚˈun/
Maroon is pronounced mur-OON (/mɚˈun/). It has two syllables (Ma-roon), with the stress on "roon". Maroon (noun): a dark red color resembling ripe crimson, often described as deep, rich, and slightly purplish. It also refers to a person who has been left stranded or who chooses to live in isolation, though this sense is archaic or literary. In modern usage, it most commonly denotes color or a color-family shade rather than an event or person.
nounMaroon (noun): a dark red color resembling ripe crimson, often described as deep, rich, and slightly purplish. It also refers to a person who has been left stranded or who chooses to live in isolation, though this sense is archaic or literary. In modern usage, it most commonly denotes color or a color-family shade rather than an event or person.
How to Pronounce Maroon
"The veteran’s jacket was a deep maroon that matched the autumn leaves."
"She wore a maroon dress to the gala, which stood out against the black-tie crowd."
"The maroon hue of the sofa gave the room a warm, sophisticated feel."
Pronounce it as MAH-roon with primary stress on the first syllable. IPA: US/UK/AU: /ˈmær.uːn/. Start with an open-front ligature for /æ/ as in cat, then glide into a long /uː/ vowel. The second syllable is a quick /-uːn/ with a light nasal ending. You’ll hear the contrast between /æ/ and /eɪ/ in similar words like marry vs. Mare- run, but maroon sticks to /æ/ in the first syllable and a long /uː/ second syllable. Audio reference: listening to standard speech in reputable dictionaries or Pronounce resources will validate the /ˈmær.uːn/ pattern.
Two frequent errors: (1) Skipping the long /uː/ in the second syllable, shortening it to /u/ or /ʊ/; (2) Misplacing the primary stress on the second syllable, saying /ˈmær.ˌun/ or /ˈmær.u/ without clear separation. To correct: ensure the second syllable has a true long /uː/ with lip rounding and a lightly held final /n/. Practice by isolating the two syllables: /ˈmær/ and /uːn/, then blend. Listen to native speakers in Cambridge/Oxford recordings and mimic the rhythm.
In US/UK/AU, the primary stress remains on the first syllable. The /æ/ in the first vowel is similar to cat but may be slightly tighter in some US regional accents. All three share the long /uː/ in the second syllable, but rhotic accents (US, some AU) may introduce a barely perceptible /ɹ/ influence in connected speech, though not in careful pronunciation. Australians often reduce alveolar tap tendencies in rapid speech, keeping /ˈmær.uːn/ clear. Overall, the rhyme and vowel quality stay consistent; differences lie mainly in vowel length and subtle rounding.
The challenge lies in maintaining a crisp, long /uː/ after a short /æ/ and not conflating with /æˈr/ sounds from near-homophones like marion or marooned in casual speech. Additionally, some speakers reduce the second syllable or merge accents into a quick /ˈmærən/ without the full /uː/ length. Practicing slow, exaggerated articulation of /ˈmær.uːn/ helps train the tongue, jaw, and lip seal to produce the target rhythm.
Maroon combines a short-front vowel /æ/ with a high back rounded vowel /uː/ in the second syllable. The two-syllable structure with strong initial stress and a closed nasal end (/n/) gives a distinct, compact rhythm, making it a popular color descriptor and a term with cultural and historical undertones. Phrase searches often pair with color adjectives (deep, rich maroon) and fashion/color vocabulary, so including both color and historical senses in content improves SEO relevance.
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US: rhotic accent, slight postvocalic /r/ that doesn’t apply here; the word remains /ˈmær.uːn/ with clear /æ/ then long /uː/. UK: non-rhotic; /ˈmæːr.uːn/ or /ˈmær.uːn/ depending on speaker, with minimal r-coloring; AU: similar to US but with slightly broader vowels and more clipped initial /æ/ in casual speech. Vowel quality: US tends to tenser /æ/; UK often a bit more open or rounded; AU shifts toward /æː/ in some regions; ensure steady /ˈmær.uːn/ across contexts.
Maroon originates from the French word marron, meaning chestnut, which in turn traces to the Italian marrone and Latin malum cartanum. The color sense emerged in English during the 17th century as a descriptor for a dark reddish-brown hue equivalent to the shade of chestnuts and mahogany. The noun sense of a maroon as an abandoned person or a fugitive (to maroon someone) developed in nautical and colonial contexts, drawing from the color’s association with dry, sun-bleached, isolated environments. Early literature used maroon to describe garments and flags; later usage extended to denote isolated communities and the verb form to abandon on a remote island or shore. The first known color-coded references appear in Edmund Spenser and mid-18th-century color dictionaries, with standardized spellings stabilizing in the 19th century as printing and pigment naming practices evolved. In contemporary use, maroon as a color is ubiquitous in design and fashion, while the historical “to maroon” nuance remains primarily in historical or descriptive prose.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Maroon" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Maroon" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Maroon"
-oon sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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