Reference reading
ah sah ee
Reference reading0:00 / Listen
How to pronounce açaí (acai)
Açaí is pronounced ah-sah-EE: three syllables, with the stress on the final EE. Ah-sigh-EE is an equally accepted variant.
açaí
- IPA
- /ˌɑːsɑːˈiː/
- Say it like
- ah-sah-EE
ahsahEE
The controls above compare IPA spellings. Reference recordings are below.
US dictionaries list ah-sah-EE first, close to Portuguese; ah-sigh-EE is a variant. British dictionaries give a-sigh-EE, starting with the a of "cat".
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Compare a reference reading, a direct machine reading, and a contextual sentence. These are not separate US and UK recordings.
Direct machine reading
acai
Direct machine reading0:00 / Listen
In a sentence
早餐吃了一碗巴西莓。
In a sentence0:00 / Listen
COMMON MISTAKES
How people get açaí wrong
Often heard
ah-KAI
Without the cedilla, readers see "c" before "a" and say a hard k. The ç in açaí is an "s" sound, and the word has three syllables, not two.
Sayah-sah-EE
Often heard
ah-SIGH
Dropping the last syllable. The accent on the final í marks it as stressed, so the word has to end in a clear EE.
Sayah-sah-EE
IN A SENTENCE
Hear açaí in a sentence
I ordered an acai bowl topped with banana, granola and honey.
Acai berries grow in large clusters on tall palm trees in the Amazon.
The smoothie gets its deep purple color from frozen acai.
PRACTICE
Record yourself and compare
Tap record, say açaí once, and compare the rhythm of your waveform with the reference. Your recording stays in your browser and is never uploaded.
Reference
Yours
What is açaí?
Açaí is the small, round, dark purple fruit of the açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea), which grows in the floodplains of the eastern Amazon, especially in Brazil. In the Amazon region the pulp is an everyday food. Elsewhere it is best known frozen in smoothies and "acai bowls", thick blended bowls topped with fruit and granola.
The word is Portuguese, borrowed from a Tupi-Guarani language of northern Brazil; Dictionary.com dates it in English to the mid-1800s. In Brazilian Portuguese it is pronounced roughly ah-sah-EE (/a.saˈi/). Many English speakers say ah-sigh-EE instead, which dictionaries also accept.
The spelling explains the sound. The ç (c with a cedilla) is pronounced "s", and the accent on the final í shows that the last syllable is stressed. English packaging often drops both marks and prints "acai", which is why so many people guess "ah-KAI".
FAQ
açaí pronunciation FAQ
The questions people ask most when they look up açaí.
Is it pronounced ah-sah-EE or ah-sigh-EE?+
Both are correct. Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com list ah-sah-EE first, which matches Brazilian Portuguese. Ah-sigh-EE is listed as a variant, and British dictionaries such as Cambridge and Oxford give a similar a-sigh-EE.
How to pronounce aci or acai without the accents?+
Exactly like açaí: ah-sah-EE, not ah-KAI. "Acai" is simply açaí with the marks left off, and "aci" is almost always a typo for the same fruit.
Do Americans and Brits say açaí differently?+
A little. American dictionaries favor ah-sah-EE, starting with the "ah" of father. British dictionaries give a-sigh-EE, starting with the short a of cat; Oxford also lists a-SIGH-ee, stressed on the middle. All keep three syllables.
How do Brazilians pronounce açaí?+
In Brazilian Portuguese açaí is ah-sah-EE, /a.saˈi/, with open "a" vowels and the stress on the final i. Each vowel is said separately, so there is no "eye" sound in the middle.
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