One syllable: Skies.
skeyez
/skaɪz/
Skies is pronounced skeyez (/skaɪz/). It has one syllable (Skies), with the stress on "Skies". Skies is the plural of sky, referring to the expanse above the earth or the high atmosphere considered as a region. In everyday use, it denotes multiple instances or types of sky, often in phrases like “clouds in the skies.” The word often carries a poetic or expansive nuance, suggesting openness or vastness beyond one sky.
nounSkies is the plural of sky, referring to the expanse above the earth or the high atmosphere considered as a region. In everyday use, it denotes multiple instances or types of sky, often in phrases like “clouds in the skies.” The word often carries a poetic or expansive nuance, suggesting openness or vastness beyond one sky.
"The skies cleared after the storm, revealing a brilliant blue."
"Birds darted across the skies as the sun rose."
"From the mountaintop, we watched the dark skies fill with stars."
Skies is pronounced /skaɪz/ in US, UK, and AU. It’s a single-stressed syllable with the long I diphthong /aɪ/ followed by a voiced /z/. Start with the /s/ air sound, then glide from /a/ to /ɪ/ in the same syllable, and finish with /z/. Tip: keep your jaw slightly dropped to lengthen the diphthong and avoid turning it into /ɪ/ or /i:/.
Common mistakes include pronouncing it as /skiz/ with a lax short i, or blending the final /z/ into a voiceless /s/ in fast speech. Another error is over-aspirating the /z/ as /zʰ/ or misguiding the glide into /eɪ/ or /aɪə/. To correct: maintain the /aɪ/ diphthong (jaw drop and glide from /a/ to /ɪ/), keep the final /z/ voiced and clear, and avoid turning it into an /s/ or /ɪz/ in rapid speech.
Across US, UK, and AU, the core /skaɪz/ is the same: a voiced final /z/. The differences are subtle: US often preserves a slightly more centralized /aɪ/ with a quicker transition; UK tends to a crisper tongue position with a slightly higher tongue height for /aɪ/ and less vowel reduction in following words; Australian English typically has a more open starting /a/, with non-rhotic tendencies in connected speech but still voice-on /z/ at the end. Overall, all three retain the /aɪ/ glide, with minor vowel shaping and voicing coarticulation in fast speech.
Skies is challenging due to the /aɪ/ diphthong which requires a precise glide from /a/ to /ɪ/ while keeping the following /z/ voiced. In rapid speech, the /z/ can devoice, turning into /s/, and the preceding /s/ can blend with the /aɪ/, creating a misleading /saɪ/ or /skɪz/ error. Also, the final /z/ can be mistaken for /s/; students must voice the final consonant clearly and avoid overtense of the jaw. Practice the controlled diphthong and final z-voicing separately, then combine.
A unique aspect is the smooth onset of the diphthong /aɪ/ after the /sk/ cluster. The transition must be seamless: /s/ + /k/ closures quickly release into the glide from /a/ to /ɪ/. If you over-articulate the /k/ or separate the glide, you’ll sound like /skai- z/ or /skaɪsɪ/. Focus on maintaining a tight but relaxed tongue position for /s/ and /k/, then glide the tongue from low/open to mid-high for /aɪ/.
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Skies derives from Old Norse and Old English roots related to the word sky, evolving from Proto-Germanic *skūozan-/*skūam- indicating the visible dome overhead. The term appears in Old English as scēa, scēoru (related forms), gradually consolidating into scīa or scīa as a plural of scēa (sky) and the modern skies. In Middle English, the concept broadened from a single celestial dome to a pluralizable domain of the heavens, aligning with a shift in poetic and scientific usage. The earliest known uses appear in medieval poetry and scholastic works to describe the celestial canopy; over centuries, the plural form skies became dominant in reference to the visible expanse above, while keeping a strong semantic link to weather, atmosphere, and daylight. By Early Modern English, skies were firmly established in prose and verse as both a generic and poetic term for the upper atmosphere and the metaphorical heavens.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Skies" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Skies"
-ies sounds
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