How to pronounce "harboured" in English
har·bou·red
Hear native speakers say harboured in context across real video clips
Linguistic Pronunciation Masterclass: “harboured”
Phonetic mechanics, syllable architecture, and conversational cadence
Syllable Architecture & Stress Distribution
har
Reduced vowel sound, relaxed jaw, and minimal vocal effort.
bou
Reduced vowel sound, relaxed jaw, and minimal vocal effort.
red
Reduced vowel sound, relaxed jaw, and minimal vocal effort.
Keep the vowel length balanced, placing subtle emphasis on the root morpheme according to standard conversational rhythm.
Common Pronunciation Traps & Learner Mistakes
The Trap: Do not pronounce "-ed" as an extra syllable.
How Native Speakers Say It: Voice a clean /d/ consonant at the end of the root word smoothly.
Connected Speech & Natural Conversational Flow
When "harboured" is followed by a word starting with a vowel, glide the final consonant into the opening vowel (e.g. "harboured is" sounds like "harboured-iz").
Maintain the stress-timed rhythm of English: compress unstressed syllables rapidly so the beat of "harboured" aligns naturally with adjacent words.
Authentic Spoken Quotes from Native Video Context
“And I also harboured the hope that Ellie would change her mind.”— TEDx TalksWatch clip
“the taliban's advance across afghanistan is unprecedented the hard-line islamists who once harboured osama bin laden are gaining ground fast as they sweep”— Native SpeakerWatch clip
Practice Speaking “harboured”
Listen to native pronunciation, record yourself repeating the sentence into your microphone, and receive real-time word-by-word accuracy scoring.
And I also harboured the hope that Ellie would change her mind.
Hear it in context: “harboured”
2 clipsThe English word “harboured”. Phonologically, it consists of 3 syllables (har · bou · red). Grammatically, “harboured” functions as a adjective, verb. SayItVid indexes 2 authentic English video clips demonstrating how native speakers articulate “harboured” in natural connected speech across American (US: 2 sampled), British (UK), and Australian (AUS) accents, including verified broadcasts from TEDx Talks.
Spoken Video Transcripts & Contextual Quotes (2 Verified Clips)
- 🇺🇸 USTEDx TalksClip #1 · @6:12
“I'm not coping was difficult for me. And I also harboured the hope that Ellie would change her mind. So I didn't join.”
- 🇺🇸 USClip #2 · @0:00
“the taliban's advance across afghanistan is unprecedented the hard-line islamists who once harboured osama bin laden are gaining ground fast as they sweep who once harboured osama bin laden are gaining ground fast as they sweep”
Definition & Meaning: “harboured”
- Having a harbour
- sheltered
- simple past and past participle of harbour
Example Sentences (2)
- “And I also harboured the hope that Ellie would change her mind.”
- “the taliban's advance across afghanistan is unprecedented the hard-line islamists who once harboured osama bin laden are gaining ground fast as they sweep”
Common Phrases & Collocations
Pronounce: “harboured”
- Syllables:
- har · bou · red
- Hear it in context
- harboured
Words that Sound Identical (Homophones)
Unique Sound"harboured" has no true homophones in standard English — there are no other words with identical pronunciation. Unlike sound-alike pairs like there / their or peace / piece, "harboured" has a completely distinct phonetic identity.
Frequently asked questions about harboured
How many syllables are in “harboured”?
“harboured” has 3 syllables: har · bou · red.
What does “harboured” mean?
Having a harbour
How can I hear “harboured” used in real sentences?
This page has 2 real-world video examples of “harboured” with synchronized subtitles. Use Previous / Next (or ← / → keys) to hear each one at the exact moment it is spoken.
What is the most common pronunciation mistake when saying “harboured”?
Do not pronounce "-ed" as an extra syllable. Voice a clean /d/ consonant at the end of the root word smoothly.