How many syllables in “needed”?

“needed” has 2 syllables: need·ed

IPA
/ˈni.dəd/
Stress
NEED-ed (pattern 1-0)
Division
need·ed

Pronunciation

Say it likeIPASyllablesCountSource
NEED-ed /ˈni.dəd/ n iy · d ah d 2 CMU dictionary

Syllables are shown in ARPAbet (the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary's phoneme alphabet). Respellings put the stressed syllable in capitals.

Syllables vs. morphemes

Syllables (2)
need·ed
Morphemes (2)
need + -ed

The syllable breaks of needed (need·ed) line up with its morphemes (need + -ed): every morpheme boundary is also a syllable boundary, so the word divides the same way for a syllable count and for a morphology exercise.

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Pronunciations from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Hyphenation from the hyph_en_US patterns.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many syllables are in "needed"?
"needed" has two syllables: need·ed.
How do you divide "needed" into syllables?
need·ed. The syllable breaks of needed (need·ed) line up with its morphemes (need + -ed): every morpheme boundary is also a syllable boundary, so the word divides the same way for a syllable count and for a morphology exercise.
Is this syllable counter free?
Yes. The Fixie syllable counter is free, needs no signup, and runs in your browser; paste any text to count syllables, see stress and IPA.