whence

Pronounce as /wɛns/ in US and UK, with a single syllable, starting with /w/ (lip rounding) and ending with /ns/ (alveolar nasal + sibilant). The mouth shape is rounded at the start and relaxes into a short, clipped finale. Stress is light, since the word is monosyllabic; the emphasis falls naturally on the vowel nucleus. IPA: US/UK: /wɛns/. Audio references: you can compare with pronunciations on Forvo or YouGlish for quick listening.

Common errors include elongating the vowel to /weɪ/ like “way” and adding an extra consonant sound as in /wɛnts/ or /wɛnsə/. The correct form keeps a short vowel /ɛ/ (as in “bed”) and ends with the voiceless alveolar sibilant /s/. Avoid back-of-mouth or overemphasis on the /n/; keep the tongue at the alveolar ridge and release cleanly into /s/.

Across accents, the core /wɛns/ remains, but vowel quality varies slightly. In US and UK, the /ɛ/ as in ‘dress’ is common, with rhotic influence minimal since it ends in /s/. Australian speakers may slightly raise or diphthongize the vowel in rapid speech, but the monosyllabic form remains. The /w/ onset is consistent; the final /ns/ cluster is a tight alveolar nasal + sibilant. IPA references: /wɛns/ for all three.

The difficulty lies in trimming the vowel to a short /ɛ/ without adding an extra vowel or gliding sound, and in closing the syllable with a crisp /ns/ without resorting to a /z/ or /s/ mispronunciation. The word’s rarity in casual speech also reduces familiarization, so you may elongate the vowel or insert syllables. Focus on a quick, single-syllable delivery: /wɛns/ with a firm alveolar stop-free transition into /s/.

No letters are silent in whence. It is spelled w-h-e-n-c-e, and all letters map to sounds in /wɛns/. The h is pronounced with the initial /w/ blend, the e is part of the short /ɛ/ vowel, the n is an alveolar nasal, and c–e combine to form the final /ns/ that ends the word. Ensure there isn’t a glide or an extra vowel creeping in.