uhn-FIN-isht
/əˈnfɪnɪʃt/
unfinished is pronounced uhn-FIN-isht (/əˈnfɪnɪʃt/). Unfinished is an adjective describing something that is not completed or lacking its final touches. It often conveys incompleteness or being in progress, and can describe projects, tasks, or statements that are not yet finalized. In everyday use, it suggests a state that invites continuation or completion.
Unfinished is an adjective describing something that is not completed or lacking its final touches. It often conveys incompleteness or being in progress, and can describe projects, tasks, or statements that are not yet finalized. In everyday use, it suggests a state that invites continuation or completion.
- Incorrect syllable stress placement: Often speakers place main stress on the first syllable (UN-finishED) or split stress, leading to a choppy rhythm. Correct by keeping primary stress on FIN and reducing unnecessary pause after UN. - Overly pronounced final -ed: Treat the ending as a light /t/ rather than a full syllable; many learners insert an extra vowel or syllable, which breaks rhythm. Practice by linking /t/ to the preceding /ʃ/ as a single S-cluster. - Muffled consonants: The /n/ and /f/ can blur together in fast speech; ensure an audible /n/ before /f/ with a clean transition. Drill with slow tempo, then speed up.
"The project is unfinished and needs one more round of review."
"She handed in an unfinished draft, hoping for a quick revision."
"The sentence felt unfinished, like it was cut off mid-thought."
Say un-FIN-ished with primary stress on FIN in the second syllable. In IPA: US/UK/AU: ʌnˈfɪn.ɪʃt. Keep the vowel in the stressed syllable tense but not clipped, and finish with a light /ʃt/ blend. You’ll want the tongue blade close to the alveolar ridge for the /n/ and the /ʃ/ around the palate. Audio references: you can compare to entries on Cambridge and Oxford dictionaries or Forvo entries for ‘unfinished’ to hear natural stress and linking.
Two frequent errors are misplacing the stress or breaking the word into un-FIN-ished with unnatural pausing, and over-pronouncing the final -ed as a separate syllable. Correct by keeping the primary stress on the second syllable and merging the final /t/ into a clipped but audible /t/ after /ʃ/. Practice saying ʌnˈfɪn.ɪʃt smoothly without a strong pause after /n/.
In US, UK, and AU, the vowel in the stressed syllable is /ɪ/ as in 'kit', not a broad vowel; rhoticity mostly affects the surrounding vowels and the presence of linking r in some dialects. All share /ʌn/ at the start and /ɪʃt/ at the end; the main differences are rhythm and vowel length—some US speakers may reduce the second syllable slightly, while UK/AU tend to maintain a crisper /ɪ/ and less flapped /t/ in rapid speech.
The difficulty lies in maintaining steady secondary stress and producing the sandhi-like transition from the nasal /n/ to the /f/ without a hiatus, plus articulating /t/ in a rapid sequence as /t/ or a light /d/ in connected speech. The cluster /nˈfɪn/ requires precise tongue positioning to avoid a nasalized vowel or an intrusive /r/ in some dialects; training with minimal pairs helps. IPA cues: ʌnˈfɪn.ɪʃt.
The key unique aspect is the combination of a nasal onset with a stressed syllable followed by a voiceless alveolar fricative at the end. You’ll want to avoid inserting an extra vowel between /n/ and /f/, and ensure the final /t/ lands crisply without voicing. Pronounce as ʌnˈfɪn.ɪʃt, with the /t/ clearly released in careful speech.
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- US: Greater rhotic subtlety in surrounding vowels; keep /ɪ/ in FIN steady; lightly aspirate /n/ before /f/ to avoid a nasalized /f/. - UK: Crisp /t/ release, less vowel reduction in the second syllable; maintain non-rhoticity in many accents; ensure /ɪ/ remains short and bright. - AU: Similar to UK, but Australians often have a slightly more centered /ɪ/ and faster tempo; maintain clarity in /n/ to /f/ transition and avoid flapping the /t/ in fast speech. IPA references: ʌnˈfɪn.ɪʃt for all, with vowel quality differences noted above.
Unfinished derives from the prefix un- meaning ‘not’ or ‘opposite of’, attached to finish, which comes from Old French finir and Latin finire, meaning ‘to end, complete’. The sense of ‘not finished’ appeared in Middle English and has intensified in modern usage to describe processes, works-in-progress, or statements lacking closure. The word finire is related to termini like final, finally, and infinite, all threaded through the Latin fin- ‘end’ root. The negative prefix un- is a productive English morphology that creates opposites or reversals, and in this case modifies the verb “finish” into an adjective describing incompleteness. The first known uses surface in general English contexts by the late Middle English period, but the precise modern sense of “not completed” solidified during the industrial and educational evolutions of the 18th–19th centuries, paralleling the rise of planning, drafts, and iterative work. Today, unfinished is common across engineering, literature, and everyday speech to indicate ongoing processes or anticipated continuations.”,
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "unfinished" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "unfinished"
-ish sounds
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