Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

miners' canary

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.32 in modern English

Syllables
min-er-s' -ca-nary
IPA
19
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
5
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A caged bird kept caged in mines because its demise provided a warning of dangerous levels of toxic gases.

noun

Any thing, especially an organism, whose demise or distress provides an early warning of danger.

Inflected Forms

miners' canaries (plural) canary in a coal mine (alternative) miner's canary (alternative)

Phrases

climate canary

Frequently Paired Words

climate canary

Questions

What does miners' canary mean?
A caged bird kept caged in mines because its demise provided a warning of dangerous levels of toxic gases.

How to pronounce miners' canary

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “miners' canary”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “miners' canary”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “miners' canary” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.