Is “wednesday” two or three syllables?
“wednesday” has 2 or 3 syllables, depending on how you say it. Most dictionaries count 2. WENZ-day (2) vs WED-nz-day (3, dated RP or spelling pronunciation).
Every pronunciation, counted
| Say it like | IPA | Syllables | Count | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WENZ-dee | /ˈwɛnz.di/ | w eh n z · d iy | 2 | CMU dictionary |
| WENZ-day | /ˈwɛnz.ˌdeɪ/ | w eh n z · d ey | 2 | CMU dictionary |
| WED-uhnz-day | /ˈwɛd.ənz.ˌdeɪ/ | w eh d · ah n z · d ey | 3 | Wiktionary (RP; dated) |
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.
What the dictionaries say
- Cambridge (UK) /ˈwenz.deɪ/
- Cambridge (US) /ˈwenz.deɪ/, /ˈwenz·deɪ/
- Wiktionary /ˈwɛnz.deɪ/ (RP; dated), /ˈwɛnz.di/ (RP; dated), /ˈwɛdn̩z.deɪ/ (RP; dated), /ˈwɛdⁿnz.deɪ/ (Northumbria,Geordie)
For haiku, sonnets and song lyrics
For haiku, sonnets and other syllable-counted verse, 'wednesday' is safest as 2 syllables, the count most dictionaries give. Poets have also used it as 3 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.