breathless
PronouncedBREHTH-luhs
adjOut of breath and gasping for air.
adjSo exciting or surprising that you hold your breath.
adjVery still with no wind or breeze moving.
adjNot breathing, as if dead or unconscious.
Syllables
2 syllables
Letters
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: BR Blend
Sound“br”·/br/
B and R blend together — you hear both sounds! Like in 'brown' and 'bring'.
The blend BR combines /b/ and /r/ spoken quickly together.
Examples
Phonics Rule: EA Vowel Team (Short E)
Sound“eh”·/ɛ/
Sometimes EA makes the short E sound, like in 'bread' and 'head'.
In some common words, 'ea' makes the short E sound “eh” instead of the expected long E. These words need to be memorized since there's no reliable rule to predict when EA says short E.
Tip
Bread, head, dead — EA says “eh” instead!
Examples
Phonics Rule: TH Digraph (Unvoiced)
Sound“th”·/θ/
TH can make a soft sound “th”, like in 'think' and 'bath'. Just air, no buzz!
The unvoiced TH “th” is the quiet, breathy version. Your throat doesn't vibrate. Stick your tongue between your teeth and blow air.
Tip
Unvoiced TH is quiet — think with three teeth!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Suffix -LESS
Sound“liss”·/lɪs/
The suffix -LESS means 'without'. It turns a noun or verb into an adjective.
-LESS means without: helpless = without help, fearless = without fear, careless = without care. It is always pronounced “liss” and never changes the spelling of the base word.
Tip
-LESS means without — helpless means without help!
Examples
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