Stove is a noun referring to a device that generates heat for cooking, typically a range with burners or an integrated oven. It can also describe a metal container used for heating or keeping warmth, though in everyday use it almost always means a kitchen appliance. The term is common in households and culinary contexts, and it plays a central role in describing cooking environments and processes.
"We preheated the stove to med-low before simmering the sauce."
"The oven in the stove is broken, so we’ll bake it in the toaster oven instead."
"He wiped the stove clean after boiling water spilled on the surface."
"She turned the stove off and opened a window to vent the kitchen.”"
Stove traces to Old English stofa, meaning a place or socket, and later to the Proto-Germanic stofa. The word evolved in Middle English to describe a fireplace or hearth and subsequently a heated surface designed for cooking or heating, aligning with the rise of enclosed furnaces and stoves in homes. Early uses referred to the fireplace or hearth apparatuses used for cooking and warmth. The modern kitchen noun stove emerged as enclosed, fuel-powered cooking ranges became common in the 17th–18th centuries, emphasizing a fixed, controlled source of heat with burners and often an oven. Over time, the word broadened in some dialects to include portable stoves, and in technical contexts to denote any device that generates heat for cooking or heating, while in everyday speech it most often means a kitchen range. First known written attestations appear in culinary and domestic manuals of the late medieval to early modern period, with cross-linguistic variants in Germanic languages indicating a shared cultural development around heated cooking surfaces.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Stove" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "Stove" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "Stove"
-ove sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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Stove is pronounced with a single syllable: /stoʊv/ in US and UK dictionaries, rhyming with ‘glove’ and ‘drove’. The start is an /s/ sound, followed by /t/ with a light alveolar stop, then a long diphthong /oʊ/, and finally a voiced /v/. In connected speech you may hear a slightly reduced /oʊ/ before a following word. Position your tongue high-mid for /oʊ/, finish with a release into /v/.
Common mistakes: 1) Dropping the /t/ and producing /soʊv/ or /soʊ/—keep the /t/ clearly released as a light alveolar stop. 2) Vocalizing the final /v/ as /f/ in rapid speech—make sure the lower lip engages the upper teeth to create a voiced /v/. 3) Slurring the /oʊ/ into a short /o/ or /əʊ/—maintain the diphthong from mid to high back position. Remember to keep the /s/ and /t/ distinct rather than blending into /st/ cluster without release.
In US and UK English, stove is /stoʊv/ with a clear /oʊ/ diphthong. In non-rhotic UK varieties, the final /v/ remains voiced, but preceding vowel quality may be slightly tenser. Australian English generally matches US pronunciation closely: /stəʊv/ or /stoʊv/ depending on speaker and influence; note some Australian speakers may produce a more centralized or clipped /əʊ/ in rapid speech. In all, the key differences are vowel quality, rhoticity of /r/ non-issue here, and mild vowel length variations.
The difficulty often lies in the short, contrasted consonant cluster s-t and the diphthong /oʊ/ that smoothly transitions into a voiced /v/. Some learners reduce /oʊ/ to /o/ or /ɔ/, and may confuse /t/ with a quick, unreleased /ʔ/ or omit it in rapid speech. Also, liaisons with following words (the stove, on the stove) can blur the /t/ release. Focusing on the clean separation of /s/ and /t/ and a clear glide /oʊ/ into /v/ helps stabilize production.
Stove has no silent letters in standard speech. The word consists of five sounds: /s/ /t/ /oʊ/ /v/. Problems arise when learners assume the /t/ is silent in rapid speech or blend /s/ and /t/ so tightly that the /t/ sounds like a flap or is dropped. Emphasize a brief, audible /t/ release before the glide into /oʊ/; this keeps the word distinct and easily recognizable in fast conversation.
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