Pronunciation guide

How to pronounce apostrophe

uh-POSS-truh-fee - four syllables, stress on 'POSS', ending in '-fee'

US/əˈpɑs.tɹə.fi/

əpɑstɹəfi

UK/əˈpɒs.tɹə.fi/

əpɒstɹəfi

New to IPA symbols? Read the IPA guide.

Common mistake

Not 'AP-uh-strofe' rhyming with 'strophe'; it is four syllables ending in '-fee'.

What “apostrophe” means

The text character ', which serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.

In a sentence

  • The apostrophe mark ' is used in many languages as a punctuation symbol.
  • In old plays, an apostrophe is sometimes used in dialogue to address a absent or imaginary listener.

Say it out loud a few times, then check yourself.

Look up another wordTry a pronunciation quiz

Definitions and examples are derived from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, then edited by QuickPronounce. Pronunciation data draws on CMUdict.