How to pronounce mean
Say it like MEEN. Mean 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 mean. Choose Slow to hear each sound clearly.
- MEEN
- Main stress
- Lighter stress
- Unstressed
Mean pronunciation, sound by sound
Read the parts left to right, then blend them together without pausing.
- MEENSay this part loudest and longest. The vowel is the "ee" in see.
American vs British pronunciation of mean
American and British speakers say mean in essentially the same way: /min/ in the US and /miːn/ in the UK.
British respelling: MEEN.
What does mean mean?
- mean or intend to express or convey“You never understand what I mean!”“what do his words intend?”
- have as a logical consequence“The water shortage means that we have to stop taking long showers”
- denote or connote“`maison' means `house' in French”“An example sentence would show what this word means”
- approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value“the average income in New England is below that of the nation”“of average height for his age”
- characterized by malice“a hateful thing to do”“in a mean mood”
- having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality“that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble”“taking a mean advantage”
- an average of n numbers computed by adding some function of the numbers and dividing by some function of n
Where does mean come from?
Germanic cognates include West Frisian miene (“to deem, think”) (Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”)), Dutch menen (“to believe, think, mean”) (Middle Dutch menen (“to think, intend”)), German meinen (“to think, mean, believe”), Old Saxon mēnian.
Similar and opposite words
Similar meaning
Words that rhyme with mean
Practicing rhymes is a quick way to lock in the vowel sound of mean.
Questions about saying mean
How do you pronounce mean?
Say MEEN. The American pronunciation is /min/. In British English it is /miːn/. Press play above to hear it at normal speed or slowly.
How many syllables are in mean?
Mean is a single syllable, so the whole word carries the stress. Broken into parts: MEEN.
Do Americans and Brits say mean the same way?
Almost exactly. The American form is /min/ and the British form is /miːn/, so you can use either pronunciation with any listener.