Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tenebrae

/ˈtɛnəˌbɹeɪ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.85 in modern English

Syllables: tene-brae
IPA: /ˈtɛnəˌbɹeɪ/

10

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A Christian religious service celebrated by the Western Church on the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, involving the gradual extinguishing of candles while a series of readings and psalms are chanted or recited.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin tenebrae (“shadows, darkness”).

Word Breakdown

Root: *temH-

Inflected Forms

Tenebræ (alternative)

Questions

How do you pronounce tenebrae?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈtɛnəˌbɹeɪ/.
What does tenebrae mean?: A Christian religious service celebrated by the Western Church on the evening before or early morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, involving the gradual extinguishing of candles while a series of readings and psalms are chanted or recited.
Where does tenebrae come from?: Learned borrowing from Latin tenebrae (“shadows, darkness”).

How to pronounce tenebrae

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