Is “aluminum” four or five syllables?
“aluminum” has 4 or 5 syllables, depending on how you say it. Most dictionaries count 4. uh-LOO-mih-num (4) vs UK al-yoo-MIN-ee-um (5, spelled aluminium).
Every pronunciation, counted
| Say it like | IPA | Syllables | Count | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uh-LOO-muh-nuhm | /ə.ˈlu.mə.nəm/ | ah · l uw · m ah · n ah m | 4 | CMU dictionary |
| al-yoo-MIN-ee-uhm | /ˌæl.ju.ˈmɪn.i.əm/ | ae l · y uw · m ih n · iy · ah m | 5 | added |
Syllables are shown in ARPAbet (the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary's phoneme alphabet). Respellings put the stressed syllable in capitals.
Why the count varies
Dropped sounds and spelling pronunciations. The spelling suggests a syllable that ordinary speech does not have (busi-ness, Wed-nes-day, clo-thes). Readers count the letters; listeners count the sounds.
Dictionaries give only four syllables for “aluminum”. The other count is something people hear in speech rather than a standard pronunciation.
What the dictionaries say
- Cambridge (UK) /əˈluː.mə.nəm/
- Cambridge (US) /əˈluː.mə.nəm/, /əˈlu·mə·nəm/
- Wiktionary /əˈlu.mɪ.nəm/, /ˌæl.(j)ʊˈmɪn.jəm/, /əˈluː.mɪ.nəm/ (UK), /ʔɐ.lʊˈmi.nʊm/ (Philippine)
For haiku, sonnets and song lyrics
For haiku, sonnets and other syllable-counted verse, 'aluminum' is safest as 4 syllables, the count most dictionaries give. Poets have also used it as 5 syllables; either scans if the line is read naturally, but say which you mean if the count matters (haiku judges usually accept the dictionary count).
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Pronunciations from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, checked against Cambridge Dictionary and Wiktionary transcriptions. Hyphenation from the hyph_en_US patterns.