One syllable: Sate.
sayt
/seɪt/
Sate is pronounced sayt (/seɪt/). It has one syllable (Sate), with the stress on "Sate". Sate is a verb meaning to satisfy fully, especially with food or appetite, so that no more is desired. It can also mean to fill or supply to excess. The term often implies a completed, contented state after fulfillment, rather than mere partial satisfaction.
verbSate is a verb meaning to satisfy fully, especially with food or appetite, so that no more is desired. It can also mean to fill or supply to excess. The term often implies a completed, contented state after fulfillment, rather than mere partial satisfaction.
How to Pronounce Sate
"The hearty meal sate[d] his hunger for the evening."
"The candidate’s promises were enough to sate the voters’ expectations."
"A long, careful morning walk sate[s] her curiosity about the route."
Pronounce it as /seɪt/, a single syllable with a long a. Begin with an unaspirated /s/ followed by the diphthong /eɪ/ formed by an opening of the jaw from mid to high front position, ending with a crisp /t/. Tip: keep your tongue high and forward for the /eɪ/ glide, then release with a light burst of air for the /t/ without voicing. You can think of “sayt.” (IPA: /seɪt/).
Common mistakes include pronouncing it as /sat/ with a short a or as /seːt/ with a lengthened vowel. The correct diphthong is /eɪ/, not a pure /e/ or /æ/. Ensure you close the final /t/ crisply: avoid voicing it as /d/ or letting it linger with a released vowel. Practice with minimal pairs like sate vs seat, sate vs set to feel the difference in vowel quality and mouth position.
In US, UK, and AU, the core /seɪt/ remains the same for this word; all three accents are rhoticity-agnostic here since there is no rhotic element in this word. The vowel quality is the same diphthong /eɪ/. The main differences arise from surrounding intonation or blending with adjacent words in connected speech, but the word itself maintains the /seɪt/ target in all three accents.
The difficulty is mainly in producing the clean /eɪ/ diphthong, which requires precise jaw and tongue movement from mid-front to high-front with a smooth gliding /eɪ/ onset. Some speakers shorten or flatten the diphthong to /e/ or /eː/, which changes meaning or perceived emphasis. Also, ending with a crisp /t/ without voicing or vowel leakage can be challenging in rapid speech or when linking to following consonants.
No. Sate is a monosyllable with a single vowel sound /eɪ/. The vowel glides from /e/ to /ɪ/ in the diphthong, but it is not produced as a separate syllable. The entire word sits on one beat with steady airflow. In careful speech, you’ll hear a swift, single-syllable /seɪt/ with no added syllabic break.
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Sate comes from the Middle English satien, from Old French satisfaire, from Latin satisfacere, combining satis (enough) with facere (to make or do). The core idea is to make enough; thus, to sate is to provide so much as to fulfill or content fully. The word first appears in English in the late 14th century in moral and practical contexts meaning “to satisfy” or “to fulfill.” Over time, the sense broadened to include non-nourishing fulfillment (e.g., curiosity) beyond literal hunger, while maintaining the connotation of fullness or completion. Sate has related relatives in other Romance languages, often sharing the same Latin root satis+. The verb’s spelling and pronunciation stabilized in Early Modern English, especially after the Great Vowel Shift; the contemporary pronunciation with a long a (eɪ) reflects a common vowel pattern with words like rate, gate. In modern usage, sate is still frequent in formal or literary registers, but in everyday speech, speakers may use satiate or satisfy interchangeably, though sate often carries a stronger connotation of satisfied completely and possibly gluttonous overindulgence when applied to appetite or desire.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Sate" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Sate" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Sate"
-ate sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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