How to pronounce drive
Say it like DRYVE. Drive is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress.
Click the play button next to American or British to hear how to pronounce drive. Choose Slow to hear each sound clearly.
- DRYVE
- Main stress
- Lighter stress
- Unstressed
Drive pronunciation, sound by sound
Read the parts left to right, then blend them together without pausing.
- DRYVESay this part loudest and longest. The vowel is the "i" in time.
American vs British pronunciation of drive
American and British speakers say drive in essentially the same way: /draɪv/ in the US and /draɪv/ in the UK.
British respelling: DRYVE.
What does drive mean?
- operate or control a vehicle“drive a car or bus”“Can you drive this four-wheel truck?”
- travel or be transported in a vehicle“We drove to the university every morning”“They motored to London for the theater”
- cause someone or something to move by driving“She drove me to school every day”“We drove the car to the garage”
- the act of applying force to propel something“after reaching the desired velocity the drive is cut off”
- a mechanism by which force or power is transmitted in a machine“a variable speed drive permitted operation through a range of speeds”
- a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end“he supported populist campaigns”“they worked in the cause of world peace”
Where does drive come from?
Cognate with Scots drive (“to drive”), Yola dhreeve, dhrive, dreeve, drieve, drive (“to drive”), North Frisian driiv, driiw, driwe (“to drive”), West Frisian driuwe (“to drive; to float”), Alemannic German triibe (“to drive”), Dutch drijven
Words that rhyme with drive
Practicing rhymes is a quick way to lock in the vowel sound of drive.
Questions about saying drive
How do you pronounce drive?
Say DRYVE. The American pronunciation is /draɪv/. In British English it is /draɪv/. Press play above to hear it at normal speed or slowly.
How many syllables are in drive?
Drive is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress. Broken into parts: DRYVE.
Do Americans and Brits say drive the same way?
Almost exactly. The American form is /draɪv/ and the British form is /draɪv/, so you can use either pronunciation with any listener.