# How many syllables are there in "cabinet"?



## VoogerTown

How many syllable does "cabinet" have? Does it have three syllable or two syllable? I've heard it said with two syllable.​


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## born in newyork

In the US, definitely three . . . But the middle one is very short and quiet -- so you might not notice it.  "Cabnet" (with nothing in the middle) would sound very strange!


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## la reine victoria

Definitely three in the UK.

LRV
_____________________________
* We are frequently amused*.


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## germajesty

born in newyork said:


> In the US, definitely three . . . But the middle one is very short and quiet -- so you might not notice it.  "Cabnet" (with nothing in the middle) would sound very strange!



I disagree, I more frequently hear "cab-net" than "cab-i-net" in common speech. 

The correct form is "cab-i-net" with three syllables and wouldn't give me pause if I heard it. 

Katie


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## Snowman75

For me it's definitely two syllables. If you asked me to pronounce "cabinet" and "cabnet" you would hear exactly the same thing.

My dictionary (Macquarie 1987) lists two pronunciations, one with 3 syllables and one with 2. However Macquarie is an Australian dictionary - I'd be interested to know if the 2 syllable pronunciation is uniquely Australian.

edit: Katie, I guess that answers my question.


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## Tresley

I would use three syllables (cab-i-net), however I have heard it pronounced as "cab-net" by people speaking quickly.


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## Tabac

VoogerTown said:


> How many syllable does "cabinet" have? Does it have three syllable or two syllable? I've heard it said with two syllable.​


*As with many words in spoken English, the unaccented middle syllable reduces to schwa, sometimes to the extent that it is barely audible if at all. Technically, the word has three syllables.  I doubt that very many people pronounce it as the two separate words 'cab' and 'net'.  There's most likely a hint of schwa in most renditions.*


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## gaer

Snowman75 said:


> For me it's definitely two syllables. If you asked me to pronounce "cabinet" and "cabnet" you would hear exactly the same thing.
> 
> My dictionary (Macquarie 1987) lists two pronunciations, one with 3 syllables and one with 2. However Macquarie is an Australian dictionary - I'd be interested to know if the 2 syllable pronunciation is uniquely Australian.


Two syllables for me, and MW shows the two syllable form as first choice. 

Gaer


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## GregLee

If you can get as far as "cabnet" it's only a short further step to "cabmet".  Unstressed vowel before n can also be lost in "eb(o)ny", "ad(e)noids", "Sag(e)naw", "ag(o)ny", "av(e)nue", "list(e)ning", "soft(e)ning", and also before liquids and glides, in many many words.  A term for this is vowel syncope.


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## gaer

GregLee said:


> If you can get as far as "cabnet" it's only a short further step to "cabmet".


I think the pronunciation recommended as primary by MW ('kab-nit) is quite different from cabmet.


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## languageGuy

gaer said:


> I think the pronunciation recommended as primary by MW ('kab-nit) is quite different from cabmet.


 
I cannot understand how MW could recommend such a pronunciation. I have never heard anyone talk like that.


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## gaer

languageGuy said:


> I cannot understand how MW could recommend such a pronunciation. I have never heard anyone talk like that.


Why don't you listen to the pronunciation and see if you still disagree? It matches my pronunciation exactly. 

As others have suggested, the middle "i" is often pronounced so quickly that it is very hard to tell whether or not it is there.

Gaer


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## mjscott

gaer said:


> Two syllables for me, and MW shows the two syllable form as first choice.
> 
> Gaer


 
That's because two comes before three in the order of things!


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## gaer

mjscott said:


> That's because two comes before three in the order of things!


Again, if you listen, I think you'll here that it's really tough to decide if there is one very short syllable in the middle or if the act of following an "b" with an "n" automatically inserts something that might also be heard as a very short schwa.

I can't say "bnet", so if you think of it as "ca' bnet", you might automatically get closer to what I heard. If I say it slower, I think it turns into three syllables.

How about two and a half? 

Gaer


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## mjscott

Yes, I think cabinets should come in size 2 and a half.


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## tphuong122002

Three in formal use and two in daily use


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## languageGuy

gaer said:


> Why don't you listen to the pronunciation and see if you still disagree? It matches my pronunciation exactly.
> 
> As others have suggested, the middle "i" is often pronounced so quickly that it is very hard to tell whether or not it is there.
> 
> Gaer


 
Well, I listened.  The word is pronounced correctly to my ear, but not as kab-nit.  The transliteration is the problem for me.


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## gaer

languageGuy said:


> Well, I listened. The word is pronounced correctly to my ear, but not as kab-nit. The transliteration is the problem for me.


I suppose it is silly for us to refer to written desriptions of sound when the actual thing (in sound) is available.


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## emma42

I think there are regional variations in England.  Tresley, would you agree that  in Yorkshire, people will often pronounce all the syllables in a word, which, in other parts of this sceptred isle will run together?

You have already said "cabinet" is pronounced with three syllables.

"Vegetables" comes to mind.  

I don't want to go off-topic, simply wanted to point out possible regional differences in pronunciation.


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## mplsray

On the pronunciation "CAB-nit," given as the first pronunciation in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, *languageGuy* said:



languageGuy said:


> I cannot understand how MW could recommend such a pronunciation. I have never heard anyone talk like that.


 
That dictionary, like all other modern general dictionaries, _reports_ pronunciation rather than recommending it. It bases its representation of pronunciation on the actual usage of educated speakers, as represented in the company's audio archives.

_Webster's Third New International Dictionary,_ Unabridged, goes into a bit more detail, showing the pronunciation as "CAB-(uh)-nùt." I'm using _ù_ here to represent the schwa with a dot over it used in Webster's Third. The schwa with a dot over it is used when the sound would be pronounced as a schwa in some dialects and as a short _i_ (as in _nit_) in others. It's also used when a speaker might use a schwa in casual speech but a short _i_ in formal speech. Thus, the CAB-nit pronunciation is among those given in Webster's Third, which means that pronunciation has occurred since at least the 1960s, when that dictionary was published.

We must not assume that the "CAB-nit" pronunciation given in the Collegiate indicates it occurs more often than the "CAB-uh-nut" pronunciation. If the editors thought "CAB-nit" occurred significantly more often, they would have preceded "CAB-uh-nut" by the word "also."


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## Snowman75

GregLee said:


> If you can get as far as "cabnet" it's only a short further step to "cabmet". Unstressed vowel before n can also be lost in "eb(o)ny", "ad(e)noids", "Sag(e)naw", "ag(o)ny", "av(e)nue", "list(e)ning", "soft(e)ning", and also before liquids and glides, in many many words. A term for this is vowel syncope.


I think cabinet falls into a different category, at least in some regions. For comparison I looked up all the words you listed in the same dictionary (Macquarie) and the only words that have a two syllable pronunciation listed are "cabinet" and "listening". I believe the word has evolved (for some people) to the point that the middle vowel has disappeared completely, much as in the word "Wednesday" (for most speakers).

And for the record, I do pronounce the schwa in "ebony", "adenoids", "agony", "avenue", and "softening". With "listening" I can go either way - I'll pronounce the schwa if I'm stressing the word. I definitely don't pronounce it in "cabinet". And I'm certainly not confused about the difference between a shortened vowel and an absent vowel.

emma42: *vegetables* is another good example. This for me (and all Australians as far as I know) is always three syllables - the second *e* has disappeared completely from the pronunciation, no matter how slowly you're speaking.


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## languageGuy

gaer said:


> I suppose it is silly for us to refer to written desriptions of sound when the actual thing (in sound) is available.


 
I agree, but then the question will never really be answered, or will it?  How many syllables in cabinet?  We can't tell you.  You must listen and judge for yourself.


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## gaer

languageGuy said:


> I agree, but then the question will never really be answered, or will it? How many syllables in cabinet? We can't tell you. You must listen and judge for yourself.


Yes, but look at it another way. The question about two or three syllables would become irrelevant because of the imprecision of written description of sound.


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## Reina140

I think this is a regional thing, clearly.  I say cab-uh-net, and so does my family.  Another word that I pronounce fully, that I think many don't is "Towel."

Anyone in this discussion from the NE of the states?


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## heidita

As a foreigner I would have thought it was 

ca - bi - net

Why cab -i - net? You pronounce the b and the e together, don't you? Always considering the 3 syllables , of course.


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## TrentinaNE

VoogerTown said:


> I've heard it said with two syllable.


Where did you hear it that way?  Are you a native-English speaker yourself?  Where are "h." and "n."?   Are you and sd and f having fun?

Elisabetta


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## Reina140

heidita said:


> As a foreigner I would have thought it was
> 
> ca - bi - net
> 
> Why cab -i - net? You pronounce the b and the e together, don't you? Always considering the 3 syllables , of course.


 
Now that I rethink it, I think I do say more like "ca-buh-net."  I think I was just speaking to slow!


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## mplsray

heidita said:


> As a foreigner I would have thought it was
> 
> ca - bi - net
> 
> Why cab -i - net? You pronounce the b and the e together, don't you? Always considering the 3 syllables , of course.


 
In fact, the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary presents the pronunciation as 

'kab-nit, 'ka-b&-

where _a_ represents the vowel in _hat_ and _&_ represents the schwa. That is, they are showing the three-syllable pronunciation as having a middle syllable beginning with _b_ and ending with a schwa.

There's a problem, however, with representing such a pronunciation in pronunciation spelling, that is, using only the 26 letters of the alphabet. As I've said before, there are no fixed rules to pronunciation spelling, only tendencies, and one tendency is to represent the short _a_ by surrounding it by consonants.*

"CAH-bi-net" has at least two problems, it seems to me. One is the ambiguity of _ah_ to represent the short _a_ sound, since some people would take it to be that sound (the _a_ of _cat_), some the vowel in _hot _(as an American would pronounce it), and some the vowel in _tall._ Some people might represent the short _a_ with just an _a,_ writing "CA-bi-net," but that isn't done all that often in my experience. Furthermore, in such a pronunciation spelling, the _bi _could be taken as being pronounced with a long _i,_ as in the word_ buy._

*I thought of some syllables in which the short _a_ would not be surrounded by consonants: _an, and, ant, am,_ and _amp,_ which syllables are also words pronounced with a short _a. _The pronunciation of _antimony,_ which M.-W. represents as 'an-T&-"mO-nE, could be represented in pronunciation spelling as "AN-tuh-moh-nee," keeping the same syllable division.

But in the case of the rhyming word _matrimony,_ that doesn't work. It would be represented as "MAT-ruh-moh-nee," with a different syllable division than that shown in M.-W., 'ma-tr&-"mO-nE, because most English speakers would pronounce a syllable represented as _ma_ with same vowel as that found in the American pronunciation of _hot,_ since that is the vowel used in the word _ma,_ meaning "mother."


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## gaer

mplsray said:


> In fact, the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary presents the pronunciation as
> 
> 'kab-nit, 'ka-b&-
> 
> where _a_ represents the vowel in _hat_ and _&_ represents the schwa. That is, they are showing the three-syllable pronunciation as having a middle syllable beginning with _b_ and ending with a schwa.
> 
> There's a problem, however, with representing such a pronunciation in pronunciation spelling, that is, using only the 26 letters of the alphabet. As I've said before, there are no fixed rules to pronunciation spelling, only tendencies, and one tendency is to represent the short _a_ by surrounding it by consonants.
> 
> "CAH-bi-net" has at least two problems, it seems to me. One is the ambiguity of _ah_ to represent the short _a_ sound, since some people would take it to be that sound (the _a_ of _cat_), some the vowel in _hot _(as an American would pronounce it), and some the vowel in _tall._ Some people might represent the short _a_ with just an _a,_ writing "CA-bi-net," but that isn't done all that often in my experience. Furthermore, in such a pronunciation spellinng, the _bi _could be taken as being pronounced with a long _i,_ as in the word_ buy._


This is why MW online has a little speaker graphic beside words. When I listen to the recording of "cabinet", I come to three conclusions. 

First, it is very close to what I say.
Second, it is very close to what I usually hear.
Third, as the recorded speaker glides from the "b" to the "n", it is impossible for me to tell if a short vowel (schwa) is there or not. The problem comes from "bn", which is not a normal consonant combination in English.

Gaer


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## winklepicker

gaer said:


> The problem comes from "bn", which is not a normal vowel combination in English.


 
Do you mean it's abnormal?


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## JamesM

I think of "cabinet" as three syllables, even though the second syllable is shortened severely. I wouldn't say "cabinet" with the same even stress on all syllables that I would use for "martinet", for example. Calling it two, though, seems a bit far-fetched, at least for the way I pronounce it.  The sound of "bn" in "abnormal" is very different from the sound of "bin" in "cabinet', for me at least.


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## panjandrum

winklepicker said:


> Do you mean it's abnormal?


Not really. As I tramp in my hobnail boots to clubnight at my local, munching cobnuts as I ignore the drabness of the streetscape, I wonder am I really as obnoxious as the snubnosed scrubnurse suggested? Sorry, but I've just found out how to search for words with *bn* in them


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## winklepicker

So, VoogerTown, that's your answer then. There are three syllables in cabinet, except when there are two. _(I don't think any foreros here are making a case for one or four yet, but give them time.  )_

Now Panj, about those cobnuts, Do they come from a platt?


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## cuchuflete

Try the WR English>Spanish dictionary for two spoken examples.

http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=cabinet

Another mid-west AE/BE thingy?

To Reina's question, I've lived in the NE of the US most of my life and say the word with three syllables, as do
most people I know.  The two syllable version is common enough that it doesn't sound 'wrong' to me.


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## gaer

winklepicker said:


> Do you mean it's abnormal?


An abnormal consonant combination!

I meant consonants, not vowels.  

How many more words are there like that? I could not think of one, but there may be many!

I was specifically thinking of the fact that words that start with "bn" do not exist, but even here there may be exceptions!

Gaer


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## gaer

panjandrum said:


> Not really. As I tramp in my hobnail boots to clubnight at my local, munching cobnuts as I ignore the drabness of the streetscape, I wonder am I really as obnoxious as the snubnosed scrubnurse suggested? Sorry, but I've just found out how to search for words with *bn* in them


Yikes. That many?

Crawling into a hole and feeling especially stupid. 

Gaer


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## elroy

I pronounce it with two syllables, exactly like the US-English recording on WR.


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## Tresley

emma42 said:


> I think there are regional variations in England. Tresley, would you agree that in Yorkshire, people will often pronounce all the syllables in a word, which, in other parts of this sceptred isle will run together?
> 
> You have already said "cabinet" is pronounced with three syllables.
> 
> "Vegetables" comes to mind.
> 
> I don't want to go off-topic, simply wanted to point out possible regional differences in pronunciation.


 
Hi Emma,

I don't just think that there are regional variations in pronunciation for some words in the UK, it can also vary between individuals and families in the same area.

I usually say 'cab-i-net' though.

Now then, with 'vegetable', that's a different story.....

Sometimes I pronounce the whole word (veg-i-table) and sometimes I say 'veg-table'. I don't know why! 'veg-table soup', 'I like all veg-e-tables'.

Oh! Guess what?

The newsreader on the telly just said 'members of the Cab-i-net'!

How's that for good timing!


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## Porteño

Well, I have never ever heard anyone say kabnet! It's always been kabinet, and quite clearly pronounced. (BE SE)


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## travellingsam

Hi there,
In AE and BE, it would have three syllables because if you speak "Cabinet" there will a slight sound in BI, which is a proper syllable.


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## JamesM

elroy said:


> I pronounce it with two syllables, exactly like the US-English recording on WR.


 
Thanks for pointing this out (the sound feature on WR).  I hadn't tried it before.  I do _not_ pronounce it the way this recording does.


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## gaer

JamesM said:


> Thanks for pointing this out (the sound feature on WR). I hadn't tried it before. I do _not_ pronounce it the way this recording does.


The recordings really get to the point. I pronounce it the AE way, my wife the BE way. Both sound perfectly natural to me.


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## emma42

Thanks, Tresley.


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