UNI prefix unique unicycle university American English
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to go over how to pronounce ‘unicycle’.
I happened to come across this young man who
has the unique skill of being able to ride
a unicycle.
Uni means ‘one’ or ‘single’.
Unique comes originally from the Latin word
‘unicus’ – meaning “only, single, alone of
its kind”. Riding a unicycle is a pretty
unique skill. Not many people can do it.
Unicycle. Unlike a bicycle, bi-, which has
two wheels, or a tricycle, tri-, which has
three whiles, this has just one!
Let’s listen to these two words again.
…who has the unique skill of being able
to ride a unicycle. [3x]
Unique, unicycle. They both start with the
EW as in FEW diphthong. This sounds just
like the word ‘you’. You, you. Unique,
unicycle. Then we have the N consonant.
The next sound depends on the word. In ‘unique’,
it’s a stressed syllable, and here it’s the
EE as in SHE vowel, -ni-, -ni-, unique. In ‘unicycle’,
-ni-, -ni-, uni-, it’s unstressed, and it’s
the IH as in SIT vowel. Uni-, unicycle.
Unique, unicycle. In the interview I’m stressing
the first syllable of ‘unique’ a little too
much because I’m excited to teach the uni-
prefix. Unique, unique.
I happened to come across this young man who
has the unique skill of being able to ride
a unicycle. How long did it take you to learn
how to ride this?
Um, so far a year. It’s…but, I was able
to ride pretty well about a month after I
started.
Okay. So, did you practice everyday?
Bonus tip: did you, did you. Since we’re
studying the EW diphthong in the word UNIQUE,
let’s also study it in the word YOU after
a D sound. You’ll often hear native speakers
make a J sound when the word ‘you’ follows
a D. We mix the D and the Y sound together
– Di-jew, did you, di-jew, did you? Other
common occurrences: could you, could you,
and would you, would you.
Did you do it? did you, did you
Could you help? could you, could you
Would you mind? would you, would you.
Listen again.
Did you practice everyday? [3x]
Pretty much, yeah.
I’ve heard it’s very, very hard.
It’s hard learning, but we set up a rope
in my garage, and it was really fun. Though
it took a while, yeah, I was able to do it.
And, I heard that you actually use it for
transportation now. You go to the library,
and you take it to school. Is that right?
Sometimes, yes.
So, do you get, like, weird looks? What’s the
deal with this?
Mostly people honk at me and yell out the
window.
Has it made you the most popular kid at
school?
No.
Has it made you the least popular kid at
school?
No.
Great.
We have this word part in other words too.
Like in ‘united’ of United States. Unity.
Anything that means coming together in this
case.
United. Here the letter I represents the
AI as in BUY diphthong. This is the stressed
syllable. U-ni-ted. United.
Unity. Here the letter I is in an unstressed
syllable, and it’s the IH as in SIT vowel.
U-ni-ty.
Uniform, University. Again the letter I
is in an unstressed syllable, and it’s the
IH as in SIT vowel.
In all of these cases, it’s the EW as in FEW
diphthong in that first sound. Now, every
time you see U-N-I starting a word, is it
this? Is it pronounced this way? No, unfortunately
not. Take for example the
word ‘uninsured’ or ‘uninterested’. Here,
un- is the prefix. Not –uni. And, it’s pronounced
with the UH as in BUTTER vowel.
Let’s look at two words that are very similar:
uninformed, uniformed. The only difference
in spelling is this N. But one word breaks
down with the prefix un-, and the other with
the prefix uni-, so the first syllable of
these words will not be pronounced the same.
Uninformed, uniformed.
As you learn more vocabulary, and you learn
how to break down the words, into their parts,
you’ll be able
to see this kind of thing a little more easily.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.
Oh yes! Why don’t you try that. That’ll
be funny.
How do you? … Think I’ll just leave it
there.