SUHF-ur-ing
/ˈsʌfɚɪŋ/
suffering is pronounced SUHF-ur-ing (/ˈsʌfɚɪŋ/). Suffering is the experience of pain, distress, or hardship. It typically refers to physical or emotional agony caused by injury, loss, or misfortune, and can describe ongoing hardship or a momentary burst of pain. The term emphasizes endured hardship rather than the cause itself, and is often used in medical, social, and literary contexts.
Suffering is the experience of pain, distress, or hardship. It typically refers to physical or emotional agony caused by injury, loss, or misfortune, and can describe ongoing hardship or a momentary burst of pain. The term emphasizes endured hardship rather than the cause itself, and is often used in medical, social, and literary contexts.
"The patient described the suffering they endured after the accident."
"Many communities showed solidarity in the face of collective suffering."
"Her writing captures the quiet suffering of everyday life."
Phonetically it is /ˈsʌfərɪŋ/. The primary stress falls on the first syllable: SUF-. The first vowel is the near-open front unrounded /ʌ/, the second syllable uses a schwa /ə/, and the final '-ing' is /ɪŋ/. In fast speech you may hear /ˈsəfərɪŋ/ or /ˈsʌfərn/ with a reduced final consonant, but the standard articulation remains /ˈsʌfərɪŋ/. Mouth positions: start with a relaxed jaw and a mid-back tongue for /ʌ/, glide into a relaxed /ə/ for the second syllable, and finish with /ɪŋ/ using a high front tongue for the /ɪ/ and a velar closure for the /ŋ/.
Two common errors are misplacing stress (say 'SUF-er-ing' with stress on the second syllable) and mispronouncing the middle vowel (often turning /ə/ into /ɜ/ or a clear /ʊ/). Correction: keep primary stress on /ˈsʌ/ and produce a clear, reduced mid-vowel /ə/ in the second syllable; ensure the final /ɪŋ/ is a short /ɪ/ followed by the velar nasal /ŋ/. Practice the sequence: /ˈsʌ/ + /ə/ + /ŋ/ with a light, quick onset on /s/.
US: /ˈsʌfərɪŋ/ with rhotic /r/ present in American English; UK: /ˈsʌfərɪŋ/ often with non-rhotic /r/ (linking or dropping after vowels); AU: /ˈsʌfərɪŋ/ similar to US but with sharper vowel qualities and more prominent /ɹ/ flavor in some speakers. The main vowel /ʌ/ remains consistent; the schwa in the second syllable is common across these accents. The final /ŋ/ remains nasal; rhythm tends to be a strong, initial-stress syllable followed by a lighter second syllable. When speaking quickly, the /ər/ may reduce to /ə/ or /ɜː/.
The difficulty lies in maintaining accurate /ʌ/ vs. /ə/ placement in the first-two-syllable sequence and the final nasal /ŋ/ after a short /ɪ/ vowel; many speakers insert an extra vowel or shorten /ɪ/ improperly. The cluster /fər/ requires a quick, light /f/ with a short, unstressed /ə/ following, then a clear /ɪŋ/. Practically, you blend /ˈsʌ/ and /fə/ with minimal lip rounding and keep the tongue toward the middle for /fər/ before the velar nasal. Practicing precise mouth positions helps stabilize rhythm.
A word-specific tip is to anchor the initial /s/ with a quick, crisp release, then open the mouth slightly for /ʌ/ to avoid a back-of-the-throat sound. Keep the second syllable light with /ə/ and ensure the /ɪ/ in /ɪŋ/ is short and not as forced as in a separate 'king' vowel. Visualize the flow: S U f er ing—concentrate on the quick transition from a strong /s/ to a relaxed /ʌ/ and a clipped /ɪŋ/.
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Suffering traces to the Old English word sēfa, from the verb sufian meaning to bear or endure, tied to the noun sacu (injury, hurt). Through Middle English, the sense broadened from the act of bearing pain to the state of enduring pain or hardship. The core idea is endurance under adversity. The word absorbed influences from Germanic roots, with related forms appearing in various Germanic languages. By the 14th century, suffering was used not only for physical pain but for emotional and moral afflictions as well. In modern usage, it spans medical pain, existential hardship, social hardship, and figurative pain in literature and philosophy, while retaining its emphasis on the experience of enduring distress rather than the source of the pain. First known written instances appear in medieval English texts describing affliction and endurance, evolving through centuries to the wide, nuanced usage seen today in clinical, rhetorical, and literary contexts.
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Words that rhyme with "suffering"
-ing sounds
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