# How many syllables are there in your pronunciation of the word "oil"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-syllables-are-there-in-your-pronunciation-of-the-word-oil/942777>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 24, 2021, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-syllables-are-there-in-your-pronunciation-of-the-word-oil/942777 "2021-05-24T07:41:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-syllables-are-there-in-your-pronunciation-of-the-word-oil/942777/41 "2021-05-31T22:28:39Z")

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> [@gdave](#):
>
> I think you may not be quite understanding the variety of English dialects. As noted upthread, it’s sort of 1-1/2 syllables for me. It’s pretty close to two distinct vowel sounds, oy-uhl or oy-ill.

Yeah. It’s more than one syllable, but somehow less than two. Oy-ill

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-syllables-are-there-in-your-pronunciation-of-the-word-oil/942777/42 "2021-06-01T03:44:09Z")

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Although, when I say “oily”, it is exactly two syllables, because the L becomes an attacking approximant at the start of the second syllable.

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**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-syllables-are-there-in-your-pronunciation-of-the-word-oil/942777/43 "2021-06-04T20:50:06Z")

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> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Yeah. It’s more than one syllable, but somehow less than two. Oy-ill

I count two. Oy and ill.

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