How to pronounce felt
Say it like FELT. Felt 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 felt. Choose Slow to hear each sound clearly.
- FELT
- Main stress
- Lighter stress
- Unstressed
Felt pronunciation, sound by sound
Read the parts left to right, then blend them together without pausing.
- FELTSay this part loudest and longest. The vowel is the "e" in bed.
American vs British pronunciation of felt
American and British speakers say felt in essentially the same way: /fɛlt/ in the US and /fɛlt/ in the UK.
British respelling: FELT.
What does felt mean?
- a fabric made of compressed matted animal fibers
- mat together and make felt-like“felt the wool”
- cover with felt“felt a cap”
- change texture so as to become matted and felt-like“The fabric felted up after several washes”
Where does felt come from?
From Middle English felt, from Old English felt, from Proto-West Germanic *felt (compare Dutch vilt, German Filz, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish filt, French feutre), from Proto-Indo-European *pilto, *pilso 'felt'
Words that rhyme with felt
Practicing rhymes is a quick way to lock in the vowel sound of felt.
Questions about saying felt
How do you pronounce felt?
Say FELT. The American pronunciation is /fɛlt/. In British English it is /fɛlt/. Press play above to hear it at normal speed or slowly.
How many syllables are in felt?
Felt is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress. Broken into parts: FELT.
Do Americans and Brits say felt the same way?
Almost exactly. The American form is /fɛlt/ and the British form is /fɛlt/, so you can use either pronunciation with any listener.