Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

fast asleep

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: 4.29 in modern English

Syllables
fast asleep
IPA
15
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Synonym of sound asleep.

Etymology

The original sense of fast in this term is the "firmly gripped or anchored" sense, thus as if stuck fast (embedded firmly) in sleep, but the homonymy with fast as in "quickly" happens to dovetail with the fact that a very tired person will archetypally fall asleep quickly, which tends to color this term with a connotation of falling asleep both quickly and deeply.

Synonyms

sound asleep

Questions

What does fast asleep mean?
Synonym of sound asleep.
Where does fast asleep come from?
The original sense of fast in this term is the "firmly gripped or anchored" sense, thus as if stuck fast (embedded firmly) in sleep, but the homonymy with fast as in "quickly" happens to dovetail with the fact that a very tired person will archetypally fall asleep quickly, which tends to color this term with a connotation of falling asleep both quickly and deeply.

How to pronounce fast asleep

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “fast asleep”.
  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 “fast asleep”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “fast asleep” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.