# How syllables does the word "sire" have?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 27, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816 "2014-06-27T21:17:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/21 "2014-06-27T23:22:11Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#):
>
> Well I’m a Brit — although we rarely call ourselves that
Fine. You’re a non-cheese-eating non-surrendering non-monkey.
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### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/22 "2014-06-27T23:29:01Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> Rhyming with fire means it has TWO syllables. Only madmen and Brits pronounce /aɪ/ followed by /ɹ/ without /ə/ in between. [And don’t get me started on people who only pronounce /ɹ/ if there’s a following vowel sound.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_accent) That’s simple madness and probably why Atlantis was destroyed.
Guilty of all three charges here.
Well honestly, it’s _almost_ two syllables, with a triphthong.
> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> Round here it sounds more like foire or foyer
You pronounce “fire” “foy-ay”? 😃
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### Author:  [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/23 "2014-06-27T23:29:18Z")
Two syllables - sigh-yah, rhymes with fye-yah. We don’t waste our precious R’s on it. We’re very sparing in their use.
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### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/24 "2014-06-27T23:35:23Z")
> [@Eliahna](#):
>
> We don’t waste our precious R’s on it. We’re very sparing in their use.
I use mine all the time. In fact, I’m sitting on it right now.
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### Author:  [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/25 "2014-06-27T23:43:11Z")
> [@njtt](#):
>
> I’m British, and I’d have thought two.
I’m British and I think I need one and a half syllables to do it justice. It’s not the definite si-yer of fi-yer but it’s not just one either.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/26 "2014-06-27T23:57:31Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#):
>
> I’m British and I think I need one and a half syllables to do it justice. It’s not the definite si-yer of fi-yer but it’s not just one either.
I think that’s a pretty good alternate definition of a dipthong.
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/27 "2014-06-28T00:49:37Z")
Diphthong
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/28 "2014-06-28T00:55:17Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> When you consider the rhyming words, it’s hard to make strong case for one syllable:
> Buyer, crier, drier, friar, fryer, hire, higher, mire, pyre, tire, wire.
>
> Of course, in the South that’s dealt with by changing the pronunciation to “far.” 🙂
>
> And if you’re a forest ranger you spend a fair amount of your time in a Far Tar.
Yep. My dad’s accent made these words all sound alike: tire, tar, tower.
In formal poetry, where beats or syllables matter, words like “sire” have one syllable or two depending on need. Handy words, those. 😃
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### Author:  [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/29 "2014-06-28T01:15:46Z")
> [@Bozuit](#):
>
> I use mine all the time. In fact, I’m sitting on it right now.
Exactly! Waste it on words and you’ll have no place to sit.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/30 "2014-06-28T05:19:58Z")
> [@JKilez](#):
>
> One syllable and a [diphthong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong).
This. Diphthongs have two vowel sounds, but count as only one syllable. This comes up more often in singing than speaking.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/31 "2014-06-28T05:26:24Z")
> [@JKilez](#):
>
> One syllable and a [diphthong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong).
I would have said either “two syllables, of which the first one is a diphthong”, or “one syllable, which is a triphthong” (“phi” is a diphthong).
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/32 "2014-06-28T06:03:02Z")
Two syllables
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/33 "2014-06-28T06:12:16Z")
Syllables are rather arbitrary in English diphthongs. How many syllables does “house” have? By convention, English dictionaries treat it as one, and “household” with two.
The difficulty arises when asked if “aisle” and “taiga” have the same number of syllables. Or “fire” and “fryer”.
Additionally, English convention does not regard “R” as a vowel, even though “fire” is pronounced the same as “fighter”, with the same number of syllables, except that a /t/ is placed between the two syllables /fi/ and /er/.
The principle reason English dictionaries even address syllables, is because of the rule that printers can separate a word with a hyphen at the end of the line only where there is a syllable break, so dictionaries have to show where that is. A printer cannot separate “fi-re” with a line break, but the can “fight-er”. For no reason other than a desire to codify life with rules and pedantically yell at people who break them.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/34 "2014-06-28T06:24:48Z")
One.
Until you hear Jim Morrison screaming “[fire-uhhhhhh](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iSXrZYhJt4&feature=player_detailpage#t=408)” at the end of of “Light My Fire.”
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/35 "2014-06-28T07:35:23Z")
Let’s turn to an authoritative source, the OED.
According to that venerable dictionary the Brits pronounce fire as one syllable, the Americans use both one and two syllable pronunciations, presumably according to region.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/36 "2014-06-28T10:29:07Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> When you consider the rhyming words, it’s hard to make strong case for one syllable:
> Buyer, crier, drier, friar, fryer, hire, higher, mire, pyre, tire, wire.
Yeah…but most of those words have two syllables too.
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/37 "2014-06-28T10:31:14Z")
> [@Bozuit](#):
>
> You pronounce “fire” “foy-ay”? 😃
Not me - but it’s more like “foy err”, which is how most of us pronounce foyer.
Filet steak is also pronounced “fill ett” steak One does not “fill ay” a fish.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/38 "2014-06-28T11:46:30Z")
Q: Why were the three Wise Men carrying axes and hoses?
A: Because they came from afar.
Sorry, just seemed germane.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/39 "2014-06-28T12:31:24Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Yeah…but most of those words have two syllables too.
Read that again, if you will. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2014, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-syllables-does-the-word-sire-have/691816/40 "2014-06-28T12:32:30Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> Q: Why were the three Wise Men carrying axes and hoses?
>
> A: Because they came from afar.
>
> Sorry, just seemed germane.
> mmm
Prophetic, even.
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