French · Difficult words
How to pronounce muscle in French
muscle
Muscle
French of France · Choose 1.00× to hear the original pace.
muscle is pronounced /myskl/ in French. In muscle: Keep your tongue toward the front while rounding your lips. /y/ is close to an “ee” tongue position with rounded lips; /ø/ and /œ/ are more open. Listen to the word on its own, then compare it with the example sentence.
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Find the sounds in muscle
The reference transcription for muscle is /myskl/. Read adjacent consonants together without inserting extra vowels. French prominence belongs to the spoken phrase. Do not impose a heavy English-style stress on every isolated word.
1.Rounded front vowels
In muscle: Keep your tongue toward the front while rounding your lips. /y/ is close to an “ee” tongue position with rounded lips; /ø/ and /œ/ are more open.
Watch out: English “oo” puts the tongue too far back for these vowels.
2.A clear /s/
In muscle: Let air pass through a narrow groove near the front of the mouth. Keep the sound unvoiced.
Watch out: Do not add voicing and turn /s/ into /z/.
Hear it in context
J'ai mal à un muscle de la jambe.
A muscle in my leg hurts.
Listen once, say it aloud, then replay at 1.00×. Keep the word connected to the surrounding sentence rather than giving every syllable equal weight.
Pronunciation and variety
muscle is presented using French of France. Regional accents and connected speech can change details. The isolated word and the example let you compare the dictionary form with a short spoken context.
The English-style respelling is approximate. Use the IPA and recording together for vowel quality and consonants that do not have an exact English equivalent.
Meaning and everyday use
Questions about muscle
How do you pronounce muscle?
muscle is pronounced /myskl/ in French. In muscle: Keep your tongue toward the front while rounding your lips. /y/ is close to an “ee” tongue position with rounded lips; /ø/ and /œ/ are more open. Listen to the word on its own, then compare it with the example sentence.
What should I listen for first?
In muscle: Keep your tongue toward the front while rounding your lips. /y/ is close to an “ee” tongue position with rounded lips; /ø/ and /œ/ are more open. Start at 0.75×, then return to 1.00× to hear the natural rhythm.
