voyd
/vɔɪd/
void is pronounced voyd (/vɔɪd/). Void (n. or adj. or v.) denotes an emptiness or nullness, often implying absence or lack of substance. In various contexts it can describe a physical gap, a legal nullification, or an empty space in cognition or memory. The term carries strong connotations of emptiness, erasure, or unreality, and is frequently used in formal or technical discourse as well as everyday speech to denote nothingness or invalidation.
Void (n. or adj. or v.) denotes an emptiness or nullness, often implying absence or lack of substance. In various contexts it can describe a physical gap, a legal nullification, or an empty space in cognition or memory. The term carries strong connotations of emptiness, erasure, or unreality, and is frequently used in formal or technical discourse as well as everyday speech to denote nothingness or invalidation.
"The contract was declared void after the breach of terms."
"There was a void in his memory where the incident should have been recalled."
"She felt a void in her life after moving to the new city."
Pronounce as a single syllable /vɔɪd/. Start with the labial-velar /v/ sound by biting the lower lip with the upper teeth, then glide into the diphthong /ɔɪ/ (mid-back to near-open front position, tongue slightly retracted, lips rounded transitioning to spread), and finish with a clear /d/ by placing the tongue tip at the alveolar ridge. Stress is on the only syllable. IPA: /vɔɪd/. You can listen to native examples on Pronounce or Forvo for precise mouth positions.
Common errors: (1) Turning /ɔɪ/ into a pure long /oʊ/ or /əʊ/ like in ‘oh’ due to mis-timing vowel glide; correct by holding the /ɔɪ/ glide with a smooth movement from /ɔ/ to /ɪ/ while closing to /d/. (2) Final /d/ unreleased or weakened; ensure the tongue taps the alveolar ridge fully with a crisp release. (3) Voicing of /v/ and /d/ blending; keep /v/ distinctly voiced and release into /d/ without a voiceless pause. Practice with minimal pairs to fix these.
In US English, /vɔɪd/ features a rounded /ɔɪ/ with a tighter diphthong, and the /d/ is a crisp alveolar plosive. UK English tends to maintain a similar /ɔɪ/ but with marginally less lip rounding and a slightly shorter vowel duration; AU often has a more centralized starting vowel and sometimes a more relaxed /d/ release. Overall, rhoticity isn’t a factor here, but vowel quality and diphthong duration shift subtly. IPA: US /vɔɪd/, UK /vɔɪd/, AU /vɔɪd/.
The difficulty lies in the tight, fast glide from /ɔ/ to /ɪ/ within a single syllable, forming the /ɔɪ/ diphthong, and not letting the vowel become a simple /oʊ/ or /aɪ/. The /v/ requires precise lip contact and continuous voice, while the /d/ must be released promptly, not blended or whispered. The result is a tight, efficient articulation that many learners initially substitute with simpler vowels, leading to a less accurate, flatter sound.
A word-specific tip is to practice the /ɔɪ/ transition with a quick, small lip rounding at the onset of the glide and then flattening into a slightly spread lip position as you reach /ɪ/ before the /d/. Focus on a single, clean, continuous vowel gesture: v + rounded onset, then tightening toward /ɪ/. Record and compare with a native speaker; aim for a natural, single beat without a heavy pause.
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US: more rhotic, subtle rounding; UK: sometimes less rounded, slight CV tension; AU: often broader vowel space with a slightly looser transition. Vowel: /ɔɪ/ close to [ɔɪ] in all; try starting with your mouth a touch wider in US to reach /ɔ/ and then glide to /ɪ/. Consonants: /v/ as labiodental fricative with upper teeth on lower lip; /d/ as alveolar plosive with a crisp release. IPA references: US /vɔɪd/, UK /vɔɪd/, AU /vɔɪd/.
Void comes from Old French void (meaning empty, empty space), from Latin vanus ‘empty, void, vain’. The Latin term vanus evolved into Old French void and older Middle English usage to describe emptiness or invalid legal state. In medieval and early modern English, void primarily referred to legal nullities or spaces left unfilled, gradually broadening to general emptiness or absence in physical, mental, or abstract senses. The base sense of emptiness persisted through modernization, while metaphorical uses—such as a void in memory, experience, or the universe—developed in the literary and scientific vernacular. The word’s pronunciation stabilized as /vɔɪd/ in English varieties, with the consonantal onset /v/ and a diphthongal nucleus /ɔɪ/ followed by the final /d/. First known attestations in English date to the late Middle English period, aligning with similar forms in other Romance-derived languages that cabin emptiness and nonexistence.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "void" and can often be used interchangeably.
🔄 These words have opposite meanings to "void" and show contrast in usage.
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Words that rhyme with "void"
-loy sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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