One syllable: Youths.
yoothz
/juðz/
Youths is pronounced yoothz (/juðz/). It has one syllable (Youths), with the stress on "Youths". Youths is a plural noun referring to young people, especially those who are not yet adults. It can denote a phase of life characterized by energy and potential, or a group of young individuals. In everyday use, it often contrasts with adults or with elder generations and appears in discussions about culture, education, or social issues.
nounYouths is a plural noun referring to young people, especially those who are not yet adults. It can denote a phase of life characterized by energy and potential, or a group of young individuals. In everyday use, it often contrasts with adults or with elder generations and appears in discussions about culture, education, or social issues.
"The youths gathered for the community sports day."
"Policies aimed at youths must consider their unique needs."
"The novel explores how youths navigate identity and belonging."
Pronounce as /juːθs/. The initial sound is a long 'you' (yoo) syllable, followed by the voiceless dental fricative 'θ' (as in thin) and a final 's' making /-θs/. The stress is on the first (and only) syllable. Mouth position: lips rounded briefly for /juː/, tongue tip near the upper teeth for /θ/, then a light, unvoiced /s/. You can think of blending 'you' and 'th' without a strong pause: yoo-ths.
Common errors: (1) pronouncing it like 'youth' with a trailing z sound, or omitting the final /s/. (2) misplacing the /θ/ as a /t/ or /f/ sound, yielding 'yoots' or 'youfs'. (3) mis-scooping the vowel, making it more like /juː/ without enough dental friction. Correction: keep a light dental/interdental /θ/ with the tongue tip touching the upper teeth; end with a clear, voiceless /s/. Gentle release after /θ/ helps avoid a clipped stop.
In US and UK, the sequence is /juː/ + /θ/ + /s/. US speakers often have a slightly tenser /u:/, UK speakers may have a sharper /θ/ and crisper /s/. Australian speakers typically retain /θ/ clearly but may produce a softer /s/ due to Australian vowel tendencies. In all, rhoticity isn’t a factor here since the word doesn’t include /r/. The key accent differences lie in vowel quality of /uː/ and the dental fricative precision of /θ/.
The difficulty lies in transitioning from the long /juː/ vowel cluster to the interdental /θ/, which requires placing the tongue between the teeth without adding a vowel between them. The /θ/ followed by /s/ is a delicate sequence causing potential hesitation or a voiced consonant instead of voiceless /s/. Also, some speakers treat /θ/ as /t/ or /f/. Focus on a clean dental friction for /θ/ and an unvoiced, steady /s/ to resolve the challenge.
A unique feature is the combination of a complex onset (the /juː/ glide) with a dental fricative beginning immediately after. This creates a quick, two-segment start that can slip into a vowel-only form if the tongue/teeth separation isn’t maintained. Emphasize the distinct /θ/ following the /juː/ before the final /s/ to preserve the word’s characteristic dental-fricative cluster.
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Youths derives from Middle English youthe, rooted in Old English geoguþ (youth, young person), related to geogoþ and geoth, denoting young people or the state of being young. The term evolved from Old English into Middle English as youthe, retaining the sense of young persons collectively rather than a single individual. The plural form youths emerged through typical noun pluralization patterns in English, preserving the sense of multiple young people within a community or demographic. By the early modern period, youths was well established in literature and rhetoric to distinguish generations and to discuss social and cultural issues affecting young people. Over time, the word broadened to include abstract references to youthfulness as a state or quality, not only a demographic category, especially in discussions of youth culture, energy, and development. First known uses appear in Old English and early Middle English writings, with standardized spellings consolidating in the 16th–18th centuries as dictionaries and grammars codified plural forms. Today, youths remains the conventional plural for young people, while youth increasingly often refers to the life stage in general rather than a specific cohort.
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Words that rhyme with "Youths"
-ths sounds
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