3 syllables: mu, si, cal. Stress on mu.
MYOO-zik-uhl
/ˈmjuzɪkəl/
musical is pronounced MYOO-zik-uhl (/ˈmjuzɪkəl/). It has three syllables (mu-si-cal), with the stress on "mu". Musical is an adjective and noun relating to or having the qualities of music. In everyday use it describes things that pertain to music, musicians, or musical expression. The term often conveys a sense of harmony or suitability to music, as in a ‘musical performance’ or ‘musical taste.’ Its pronunciation emphasizes the first syllable, with the stress on the second-to-last syllable in most varieties.
Musical is an adjective and noun relating to or having the qualities of music. In everyday use it describes things that pertain to music, musicians, or musical expression. The term often conveys a sense of harmony or suitability to music, as in a ‘musical performance’ or ‘musical taste.’ Its pronunciation emphasizes the first syllable, with the stress on the second-to-last syllable in most varieties.
"The concert featured a wide range of musical styles from classical to jazz."
"She has a musical talent that unfolds when she plays the piano."
"The room had a musical ambiance, with soft lighting and gentle melodies."
Pronunciation is MYOO-zih-kuhl in General American and UK English, with primary stress on the second syllable: mu-SI-cal. IPA: US /ˈmjuː.zɪ.kəl/, UK /ˈmjuː.zɪ.kəl/. The first syllable uses the /mjuː/ onset (a /j/ glide after /m/). The middle syllable is a short, lax /zɪ/ vowel, and the final syllable is a schwa + l: /kəl/. Keep the /z/ as a soft, voiced consonant, not a /s/ sound. listen to a standard pronunciation, and aim for a smooth transition between syllables.
Common errors: (1) Dropping the /juː/ glide and saying /mjuːzɪ.kəl/ like 'music-uhl' with a missing 'y' sound; keep the /j/ glide after /m/. (2) Misplacing stress as mu-SI-cal vs mu-si-CAL; stress the second syllable. (3) Overly pronounced final consonant; the final /l/ blends into a subtle syllabic closure; keep a light schwa before the final /l/. Correct by practicing the two-into-three syllable blend with a quick /j/ after /m/ and a relaxed /ɚ/–/əl/ ending.
In US/UK, the first syllable carries primary stress. The /juː/ is a rounded, long vowel followed by a soft /z/. Vowel quality differences: US may have a slightly tenser /juː/ and a more pronounced rhoticity in connected speech, UK often more clipped vowels with less rhotic influence in some dialects, and AU can sound more centralized with a passed aspirate on /r/ absent. The final /əl/ can be realized as /əl/ or /əl̩/ with a reduced vowel before l in rapid speech. Overall, the rhythm remains trochaic-to-syllable favoring the second syllable.
The difficulty stems from the two-phoneme onset /mjuː/ requiring a smooth glide from /m/ to /j/ (the /juː/). The middle /zɪ/ needs a light, quick vowel before the final /kəl/ cluster; many learners insert an extra short vowel or mispronounce the /əl/ as /l/ without a preceding schwa. Additionally, the final syllable has a weak vowel and a clear /l/; speakers often reduce to /mjuːzɪkˈl/ or misplace the stress.
No, standard English does not render 'ti' in musical as 'shi' in any mainstream accent. The word contains the syllable /-t?/ which corresponds to a soft 't' before the /ʃ/ sound in some contexts only in certain words, but not in 'musical'. In musical, the sequence is /zɪ/ followed by /kəl/; there is no /ʃ/ sound. If you hear 'miu-z-hi-kuhl' in non-native mimicry, that’s an error due to confusion with other words.
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Musical traces its lineage to the Latin mos musici ‘music, the art of music,’ which evolved through Old French Musique and ultimately Medieval Latin música. The noun musica referred to the art of music, or the science of musical pitch and rhythm, while the adjective musical described things related to music or capable of producing music. In English, musical appears in Middle English as musykaly or musyklen, gradually shifting its form to modern spellings by the 15th to 17th centuries. The word’s core meaning has remained stable: it designates anything connected to music, performance, or musical expression. The spread of printed music, the rise of concert culture, and the establishment of musical theory in the Renaissance contributed to its expansion from a general art descriptor to a more specialized term used in education, theory, and popular culture. In contemporary use, musical often appears in compound forms (musical theatre, musical instrument, musicality) and retains both adjectival and, less commonly, noun roles (a musical). First known use in English appears in the 14th–16th centuries in references to music and related arts, with increasing commonality in the 17th century as musicology and formal music education developed.
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Words that rhyme with "musical"
-cal sounds
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