REE-kawl
/ˈɹiˌkɔl/
recall is pronounced REE-kawl (/ˈɹiˌkɔl/). Recall refers to bringing a thought, fact, or event back into one’s mind, or to summoning someone or something from memory. It can also mean invoking or calling something back, such as a product or procedure, often implying an official or deliberate act. In psychology and common usage, it denotes the act of remembering or retrieving information from memory.
Recall refers to bringing a thought, fact, or event back into one’s mind, or to summoning someone or something from memory. It can also mean invoking or calling something back, such as a product or procedure, often implying an official or deliberate act. In psychology and common usage, it denotes the act of remembering or retrieving information from memory.
"She tried to recall the name of the author from her college days."
"The company issued a recall for the faulty batteries."
"During the test, he couldn’t recall the formula and had to guess."
Pronounce as re-CALL, with the primary stress on the second syllable. IPA: US/UK/AU /rɪˈkɔːl/. Start with a short /r/ sound, a quick schwa-like /ɪ/ before the stressed vowel, then the long /ɔː/ as in “law,” ending with the light /l/. Ensure the vowel in the second syllable is tense and rounded, and avoid adding an extra syllable at the end. Mouth position: tip of the tongue near the alveolar ridge, slight jaw drop, lips rounded for /ɔː/.
Two common errors: 1) Misplacing the stress, saying re-CALL with a weaker second syllable or stressing the first; 2) Reducing /ɪ/ to a schwa and moving the vowel toward /ɛ/ or /ɜ/. Correct by practicing the two-syllable structure and sustaining /ɔː/ in the second syllable. Ensure the first syllable uses a short /ɪ/ sound rather than a full vowel, and keep the /l/ clear at the end.
In US/UK/AU, the second syllable bears primary stress: /rɪˈkɔːl/. Rhoticity doesn’t change the vowel quality much in stressed syllables; Australians may have a slightly more centralized /ɐ/ before /l/. Australians can show a glottalization variation in informal speech, but standard pronunciation retains /kɔːl/. Non-rhotic accents may drop rhotic coloring before vowels, but with recall, the r is pronounced before the stressed syllable stress remains on CALL. Overall vowel length and lip rounding echo /ɔː/ in all three but with subtle regional flavor.
The difficulty lies in the loud second syllable where /ɔː/ must be long and pure while the first syllable has a shorter /ɪ/ or /ɪɪ/ transition. The risk is merging the vowel with /ə/ and reducing the second syllable to /kɔl/ without the clear /ɔː/. Practice: hold the /ɔː/ longer, keep the /r/ lightly pronounced, and avoid adding a /j/ or extra syllable after /l/.
A unique aspect is sustaining the long /ɔː/ in the second syllable while maintaining a crisp onset /rɪ/ in the first. Unlike some two-syllable words with reduced vowels, recall requires a precise, relatively tense second vowel and a clear alveolar /l/ at the end, not a dark or velarized /l/. IPA guidance: /rɪˈkɔːl/.
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US: rhotic /r/ is pronounced; keep /ɹ/ smooth; show accurate /ɪ/ and /ɔː/; long vowel /ɔː/ before /l/. UK: non-rhotic typically, but rhoticity in careful speech still yields pronounced /r/ in this word when followed by a vowel; the /ɔː/ is preserved, though vowels may be slightly more rounded and shorter in some regions. AU: often more centralized vowel in /ɔː/ and a tendency toward a broad vowel; maintain /ɔː/ with a stable /l/ at the end.
Recall traces to Middle French reconaille, from re- (again) + counaille (a lance, spear); the Latin root is recolare meaning to call back or restore. In English, recall entered before the 15th century in various forms meaning to call back or fetch. Over time, it broadened beyond a literal act of calling someone back to include the act of bringing information or memories back into consciousness. In the 19th and 20th centuries, recall acquired additional senses in psychology and consumer safety: to retrieve information from memory and to initiate a product safety action to remove a faulty item from the market. The word’s semantic evolution mirrors its parts: “re-” (again, back) and “call” (summon, name). The pronunciation preserved the two-syllable stress pattern, with the second syllable receiving primary stress in several compounds or when emphasized in discourse (reCALL). First known use in print is documented in Middle French-English legal and academic texts, with earliest English attestations dating to the late Middle Ages as “recalle” or “recalle.” In modern usage, recall as a noun and verb is ubiquitous in everyday language, business, and cognitive science, reinforcing its sense of retrieval, warning, and redirection.
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Words that rhyme with "recall"
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