{"id":2767,"date":"2018-06-05T23:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T05:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2767"},"modified":"2020-11-25T11:35:59","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T17:35:59","slug":"pronouncing-the-word-blessed-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/pronouncing-the-word-blessed-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Pronouncing the Word Blessed<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

We received a number of inquiries from readers asking about the proper pronunciation of the word\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0when used in a way that we were not aware of when our original e-newsletter on this subject was issued on August 11, 2012. In order to provide what we hope is now complete coverage of the topic, today we are adding a fourth rule to our article:<\/p>\n

Rule 1.<\/strong>\u00a0When\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0is used as a verb, it is pronounced with one syllable (blest).
\nExample:<\/strong>\u00a0Before we ate, our uncle Tony blessed<\/em>\u00a0[blest]\u00a0the meal.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rule 2.<\/strong>\u00a0When the word\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0is used as part of an adverb (blessedly<\/em>) or a noun (blessedness<\/em>),\u00a0it is pronounced with two syllables (bles-id<\/em>).
\nExamples:<\/strong><\/em>
\nShe hugged him blessedly<\/em>\u00a0[bles-id-lee, adverb]\u00a0upon learning he had quit his bad habit.<\/em>
\nThe Eucharist is revered for its blessedness<\/em>\u00a0[bles-id-nes, noun]\u00a0within the Christian faith.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rule 3.<\/strong>\u00a0When\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0is used as an adjective, it is typically pronounced with two syllables (bles-id<\/em>). However, in certain cases, it may be pronounced with only one syllable (blest<\/em>) as an isolated instance of inflection developed through familiarity with American English.
\nExamples:<\/strong><\/em>
\nAnnie\u2019s baptism was a blessed<\/em>\u00a0[bles-id]\u00a0moment, particularly for her devoted grandparents.<\/em>
\nBlessed<\/em>\u00a0[bles-id]\u00a0are the poor.<\/em>\u00a0But<\/strong>\u00a0The poor are blessed<\/em>\u00a0[blest, adjective].<\/p>\n

Rule 4.\u00a0<\/strong>When\u00a0the blessed<\/em>\u00a0is used as a noun meaning \u201cblessed one,\u201d \u201cpeople who are blessed,\u201d or \u201cthose whose souls are in heaven\u201d (Collins Dictionary), either pronunciation\u00a0blest<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0bles-id<\/em> may be used.<\/p>\n

Example:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>They are the blessed\u00a0<\/em>[blest or bles-id]\u00a0who live their lives selflessly.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

1. The priest\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0(pronounced\u00a0blest<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0bles-id<\/em>) the candles at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

2. The couple was\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0(pronounced\u00a0blest<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0bles-id<\/em>) with a healthy baby girl.<\/p>\n

3. I don\u2019t have a\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0(pronounced\u00a0blest<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0bles-id<\/em>) dime to my name.<\/p>\n

4. The blessed<\/em> (pronounced\u00a0blest<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0bles-id<\/em>) walk with the angels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. The priest\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0(pronounced\u00a0blest<\/strong><\/em>) the candles at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

2. The couple was\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0(pronounced\u00a0blest<\/strong><\/em>) with a healthy baby girl.<\/p>\n

3. I don\u2019t have a\u00a0blessed<\/em>\u00a0(pronounced\u00a0bles-id<\/em><\/strong>) dime to my name.<\/p>\n

4. The blessed<\/em> (pronounced\u00a0blest<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0bles-id<\/em><\/strong>) walk with the angels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We received a number of inquiries from readers asking about the proper pronunciation of the word\u00a0blessed\u00a0when used in a way that we were not aware of when our original e-newsletter on this subject was issued on August 11, 2012. In order to provide what we hope is now complete coverage of the topic, today we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,10,49,23,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-definitions","category-pronunciation","category-verbs","category-vocabulary"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2767"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}