Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

watercolour

/ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.93 in modern English

Syllables: wa-ter-colour
IPA: /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/

16

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A water-soluble pigment or paint.

Countable

noun

A painting made by using such pigment.

Countable

noun

This kind of painting as a genre.

Uncountable

adj

Pertaining to the methods or products of watercolor.

verb

To paint using watercolours.

Intransitive verb; Transitive verb

Example Sentences

"Jim's aunt uses only watercolours to paint her pictures."
"Jim's aunt paints beautiful watercolours."
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running / Like a watercolour in the rain"
"I'm not a big fan of watercolour; I much prefer oil painting."

Etymology

From water + colour.

Regional Pronunciation

British English: /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/

Usage

Inflected Forms

watercolours (plural) watercolor (alternative, US) watercolours (present, singular) watercolouring (participle, present) watercoloured (participle, past) watercoloured (past)

Derived Forms

watercoloured watercolouring watercolourist

Frequently Paired Words

aquatone oil paint

Synonyms

aquarelle watercolor water-color water-colour

Questions

How do you pronounce watercolour?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈwɔ.tɜˌkʌ.lɜ/.
What does watercolour mean?: A water-soluble pigment or paint.
Where does watercolour come from?: From water + colour.

How to pronounce watercolour

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