English pronunciation · Words Starting with H

Hay Pronunciation

Hay is pronounced HAY, IPA /ˈheɪ/.

HAY

US /ˈheɪ/  ·  UK /ˈheɪ/

Syllables: HAY (1 syllable)

noun: Grass that has been cut and dried for feeding animals.

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Hay in a Sentence

  • The barn is stacked with hay for the winter.
  • They cut the hay in the first dry week of June.
  • A bale of hay costs more than it did last year.

Common Mispronunciations of Hay

Not HY

The vowel is the ay of day, not the eye of high. Spanish readers meet hay as their own word for there is, which carries the eye sound and causes the slip.

Not AY

English sounds the h on this word. Only a short list of borrowings, among them hour, honest and heir, keep it silent.

Tip: Hay fever has nothing to do with fever from hay, and both words keep their own beats in the phrase.

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