Pronunciation - C
Reading & Pronunciation
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The letter C can create a few different sounds:
The letter C can create a few different sounds:
/s/ - Soft C
/s/ - Soft C
C can be a “soft” C. It's pronounced like -S in the following cases:
Before E, I, Y - When C is followed by the letters E, I or Y, it makes an -S sound:
CE:
Initial Sound: cent, century, center, celery, cell
Medial Sound: receive, percent, process, succeed, officer
Final Sound: peace, twice, voice, since, place
CI:
Initial Sound: city, cinema, citizen, circle, circuit
Medial Sound: dancing, racing, acid, icing, pencil
CY:
Initial Sound: cycle, cyber, cyborg, cyclone, Cyprus
Medial Sound: bicycle, recycle
Final Sound: spicy, democracy, pricy, fancy, icy
SC - Here, the C is silent and only the S is pronounced:
muscle, scissors, fascinate, ascend, descend, science, scenic, scent, scene, crescent, disciplined, oscillate, discipline, fluorescent, resuscitate, scenario, miscellaneous
Exceptions: facade
/k/ - Hard C
/k/ - Hard C
C can be a “hard” C sound, which is pronounced like the letter -K. It happens in the following situations:
Before A, O, U - When C is not followed by the letters E, I or Y it creates a hard sound:
CA:
Initial Sound: can, cat, capitol, car, cart
Medial Sound: scam, scary, pancake, academy, logical
CO:
Initial Sound: cold, computer, collection, cover, copy
Medial Sound: decode, encourage, discover, tobacco, apricot
CU:
Initial Sound: cute, cult, culture, custody, curry
Medial Sound: discuss, document, circuit, focus, excuse
Final Sound: music, academic, medic, romantic, frantic
C + Consonant - (with the exception of -CH which can create two kind of sounds):
actor, action, clip, closet, crime, crop, close, uncle, react, fact, crew, micro
Exceptions: soccer, arcing and arced (as in: arc)
CC
CC
A double C can create 3 different sounds:
The sound of /k/. Like usual, most of these come before the letter o, u, or a:
account, accuse, accommodate, occur, broccoli, hiccup, impeccable, occasion, accurate, tobacco, zucchini, occupy
The sound /ks/. Like usual, most of these come before the letter i or e:
accident, accent, access, accessory, eccentric, accept, accelerate, vaccine
The sound of /ʧ/ in words of Italian origin:
cappuccino fettuccine
Common words with C
Common words with C
Soft C
Soft C
acid
ascend
bicycle
bouncy
celebrate
celery
cell
cement
cent
center
century
certain
cider
cinema
circle
circuit
circus
citizen
city
conscience
crescent
cyber
cyborg
cycle
cyclone
Cyprus
dance
dancing
decide
democracy
descend
disciple
discipline
excited
facade
face
fancy
fascinate
fence
fluorescent
ice
icing
icy
lacy
medicine
mercy
mice
miscellaneous
muscle
nice
office
officer
peace
pencil
percent
place
price
pricy
prince
princess
process
race
racing
receive
recipe
recycle
resuscitate
scenario
scene
scenic
scent
science
scissors
sentence
since
slice
spice
spicy
succeed
twice
voice
Hard C
Hard C
academic
academy
action
actor
apricot
arced
arcing
calendar
can
camera
capitol
car
cart
cat
circuit
clip
close
closet
cold
collection
computer
copy
cover
crew
crime
crop
cult
culture
cupboard
curry
custody
cute
decode
discover
discuss
document
encourage
excuse
fact
focus
frantic
logical
medic
micro
music
pancake
react
romantic
scam
scary
soccer
tobacco
uncle
uncomfortable
Practice this sound
Practice this sound
You can listen to words with this sound on my Memrise course here. Practice saying the sound in isolation. Consider doing this activity to get used to saying it while speaking.
Hard C
cold
culture
pancake
capitol
excuse
react
action
car
computer
fact
actor
cart
copy
scam
cat
cover
cute
scary
soccer
crime
discover
medic
calendar
catch
crop
discuss
uncle
can
document
music
Soft C
circle
icy
price
scent
science
bicycle
circus
medicine
scissors
sentence
city
process
since
face
nice
receive
spicy
cent
office
center
cycle
officer
voice
certain
pencil
ice
percent
scene
cinema
place
CC
/ks/
accident
accelerate
accent
access
accept
vaccine
success
/k/
account
accommodate
accomplish
accumulate
occur
broccoli
occasion
accurate
soccer
/ʧ/
cappuccino
fettuccine
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