3 syllables: me, du, sa. Stress on du.
muh-DOO-suh
/məˈdusə/
medusa is pronounced muh-DOO-suh (/məˈdusə/). It has three syllables (me-du-sa), with the stress on "du". Medusa is a mythical gorgon whose gaze turns onlookers to stone; in biology, Medusa refers to the free-swimming, umbrella-shaped stage of a jellyfish. The word is used in literary, mythological, and scientific contexts, often as a proper noun but occasionally as a cultural reference to danger or awe. Its pronunciation hinges on the stress pattern and vowel quality to distinguish it from similar terms.
Medusa is a mythical gorgon whose gaze turns onlookers to stone; in biology, Medusa refers to the free-swimming, umbrella-shaped stage of a jellyfish. The word is used in literary, mythological, and scientific contexts, often as a proper noun but occasionally as a cultural reference to danger or awe. Its pronunciation hinges on the stress pattern and vowel quality to distinguish it from similar terms.
"The legend of Medusa has captivated readers for centuries."
"A paleobiologist described the jellyfish's Medusa stage in detail."
"She wore a necklace inspired by the myth of Medusa, with a serpentine motif."
Pronunciation: /ˈmɛd.juː.sə/ (US, UK, AU share close values). Emphasize the first syllable MED, then the /juː/ like 'you', ending with /sə/. Break it as MEH-d-YOO-suh. Keep the /d/ light and avoid a heavy dental stop. If you’re careful, it won’t slip into ‘me-DU-sa’ or ‘meh-DOO-suh’. Listen for the subtle y-bridge between /d/ and /juː/.
Common mistakes include misplacing stress as MEH-doo-suh or MEH-di-suh, and converting the /juː/ into a simple /uː/ or /ʊ/ diphthong. To correct: keep the /j/ as a consonant y-sound linking /d/ to /juː/, and maintain /ˈmɛd/ for the first syllable. Practice the sequence /ˈmɛd.juː.sə/ with a quick, light /d/ and a clear /juː/ rather than a flat /uː/.
US/UK/AU share /ˈmɛd.juː.sə/, but rhotic accents may slightly color the first syllable with a hint of /ɪ/ or reduce vowel length. In fast speech, final -sa may sound like /sə/ in all three, with minimal vowel reduction. Australians may show slightly more rounding in /juː/ and a crisper /d/; UK speakers might preserve a more defined /d/ and slightly shorter /juː/ before /sə/. Overall the core sequence remains MED-yoo-suh across varieties.
Three phonetic challenges: the /dʒ/ cluster absence is not needed here, but the adjacent /d/ followed by /juː/ creates a tricky consonant–vowel bridge; the /juː/ is a tight, high front rounded vowel sequence that can blur into /uː/; and maintaining crisp final /sə/ without devoicing. The tongue must glide from a light /d/ to a high back/close front position for /juː/ while keeping /s/ clear. Mastery requires precise timing between consonant and vowel transitions.
Medusa’s /juː/ sequence is a smooth, forward glide that sits between a hard consonant and a rounded high vowel; unlike many myth terms with a silent or stressed consonant cluster, medusa requires clean linking from /d/ into /juː/ without extraneous vowel intrusion. The word benefits from a light, rapid syllable transition that prevents the /juː/ from dragging and preserves the crisp /sə/ ending.
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Medusa comes from Latin Medūsa, used in classical Latin to translate the Greek mythological figure Gorgos rupes. The Greek name Gorgô는 (Gorgō) originally described a terrifying female monster whose gaze could petrify. In later Latin, Medusa broadeningly referred to any monstrous female figure and, by extension, to sea creatures resembling jellyfish in the biomedical context. The term in biology entered English in the 18th–19th centuries as scientists described life cycle stages of cnidarians, especially the gelatinous, bell-shaped form called the Medusa stage. The mythic usage remained dominant in literature and pop culture, while the scientific usage anchored the term in a more neutral, descriptive sense. First known English printed use appears in romantic or classical studies of Greek myth, often in collections of translations of Ovid and classical writers; in scientific text, Medusa became standard nomenclature by the 19th century, reflecting the habit of borrowing mythic names for organisms to convey shape or aura. Overall, Medusa embodies a fusion of mythological terror and natural wonder, a linguistic artifact of cross-domain imagery that persists in popular and academic language.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "medusa" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "medusa"
-e-a sounds
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