One syllable: Shot.
shaht
/ʃɑt/
Shot is pronounced shaht (/ʃɑt/). It has one syllable (Shot), with the stress on "Shot". Shot is a simple, short verb meaning to fire a weapon, to inject or administer, or to attempt or guess at something. It can also refer to a photograph taken with a camera, or a serving of a drink. In everyday use, it conveys a discrete action or attempt, often tied to timing or outcome.
verbShot is a simple, short verb meaning to fire a weapon, to inject or administer, or to attempt or guess at something. It can also refer to a photograph taken with a camera, or a serving of a drink. In everyday use, it conveys a discrete action or attempt, often tied to timing or outcome.
"She took a shot at the target, and it barely missed."
"The doctor will give you a quick shot in the arm."
"He snapped a great shot of the sunset with his camera."
Pronounce it as /ʃɒt/ in most dialects of English. Start with a voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ (like 'sh' in shine) produced with the lips rounded and the tongue near the alveolar ridge. The vowel /ɒ/ is a short, open back rounded vowel (like 'a' in cot in many British accents). End with /t/, a crisp voiceless alveolar stop. The syllable is monosyllabic with primary stress on the single syllable. In many American dialects you’ll hear a similar /ʃɑt/ or /ʃɔt/, reflecting vowel variation, but the initial /ʃ/ and final /t/ are stable. Audio resources: try Pronounce, Forvo, or Cambridge audio for native samples.
Two common errors: 1) Substituting /ʃɒt/ with a longer vowel like /ʃoːt/ or /ʃaʊt/, which lengthens the vowel and changes the accent. 2) Voicing the final /t/ as a flap or a d-like sound in casual speech, producing /ʃɒd/ or /ʃɒɾ/. Correction: keep the vowel short and lax /ɒ/ (or /ɑ/ in US) and produce a crisp, unreleased or released /t/ depending on context. Practice with word pairs to feel the final stop clearly.
In US English the vowel can be /ɑ/ as in cot-caught mergers, producing /ʃɑt/ or /ʃɔːt/ in some regions, but typically /ʃɑt/ or /ʃɒt/. In UK English it is more uniformly /ʃɒt/, with the vowel closer to /ɒ/. In Australian English you may hear /ʃɒt/ with a slightly broader, more open vowel, and a very crisp /t/ at the end. The initial /ʃ/ is consistent across accents. Pay attention to rhoticity in connected speech, where the following vowels may influence the surrounding sounds.
The difficulty lies in achieving a crisp final /t/ after a closed, rounded vowel in a closed jaw position. The /ʃ/ consonant requires a precise tongue blade position behind the upper front teeth, and the short /ɒ/ or /ɑ/ vowel can be challenging for learners not used to short, lax British vowels. In rapid speech, the final /t/ can voice or become a flap, leading to “shott” vs “shot” differences. Focus on a short, clipped vowel and a clean, alveolar stop.
No; unlike some English spellings, the 'o' in shot represents a short vowel, typically /ɒ/ or /ɔ/ in US, and the letter combination does not create a silent letter. The /o/ is vocalized briefly, not silent, with a short duration. Articulations like vowel reduction do not affect this word because it’s stressed and monosyllabic; the o sound remains central to the pronunciation. Keep the vowel short and rounded, ensuring it stays distinct from a longer 'o' as in 'shore'.
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The verb shot comes from the Old English sceotan, which meant to shoot, throw, or cast. It is related to the Proto-Germanic skuot- and to the Proto-Indo-European root *skeud- meaning to throw or project. In Middle English, shot also referred to the act of shooting a weapon or firing an arrow, and by extension to any projective act. The noun shot (as in a shot fired) emerged from the same semantic field, reinforcing the sense of a single act or attempt. Over time, English speakers extended shot to other domains—photography (a shot with a camera), medical contexts (a shot of medicine), and informal usage indicating an attempt or chance (give it a shot). The word also came to imply a measured amount of liquid in a container (a shot of liquor) and, in sports, a single scoring attempt. The evolution reflects broadening from physical firing to metaphorical chances and discrete opportunities, with usage becoming highly idiomatic in modern English. First known written uses appear in medieval texts referring to weaponry and throwing, with senses expanding in Early Modern English to cover photography and medicine as technology and social practices developed.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Shot" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Shot" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Shot"
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