How to pronounce Martyr and Murder | American English Pronunciation

Hey, guys. It's Hadar, and this is The Accent's Way -

your way to finding clarity, confidence, and freedom in English.

Today I want to compare the two words - 'murder' and 'martyr'.

murder - martyr

Now I know both words are spelled totally different, but they are pretty similar.

The beginning is different, but the ending is exactly the same.

Alright?

So we shouldn't think of the word as it's spelled, but as it sounds - 'murder', 'martyr'.

Let's begin with the word 'murder'.

The first syllable is M’R.

So you close the lips for the M, and then you pull the tongue in for the R - M’R.

There is no vowel in the middle, it's the UR as in 'stir', as in 'first' - M’R.

Then you bring the tongue up for the D sound, and then you pull it in for the R.

d’r

So basically it sounds like it's the same vowel - M’R-d’r.

The primary stress falls on the first syllable, that's why it's a little higher in pitch.

M’R-d’r

The [d] is very light.

Murder.

Murderer.

murder - murderer

You're adding another [r'r] at the end when you're talking about a ‘murderer’.

Murder.

The word 'martyr' begins with an M sound, but then you have the AR as in ‘car’.

So you drop your jaw for the ‘ah’ sound - MA.

And only then you bring the tongue up for the R - MAR.

The ending is the same. Again - d'r. MAR-d'r.

So, it's M'R versus MAR.

No vowel in the middle - M'R. Open ‘ah’ sound in the middle - MAR.

murder - martyr

‘The martyr was murdered’.

‘The martyr was murdered by the murderer’.

martyr - murder

All right, that's it.

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