portraiture
Pronouncedportraiture
nounThe art of painting or taking photographs of people's faces and heads.
nounA painted or photographic picture of a person.
nounA group of portraits.
The final syllable '-ture' is pronounced as /tʃər/ rather than /tjuːr/, which is irregular in English phonics. Additionally, the 'ai' in 'portrait' represents the /ɔː/ sound rather than a standard diphthong.
Syllables
3 syllables
Letters
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: Letter P
Sound“p”·/p/
The letter P makes the /p/ sound, like in 'pan', 'pig', and 'pot'. Both lips press together then pop open.
P is a voiceless bilabial stop — both lips press together and release with a puff of air but no voice. It pairs with B (which is the voiced version of the same mouth position).
Tip
P pops open — press your lips and let it POP!
Examples
Phonics Rule: R-Controlled OR
Sound“or”·/ɔːr/
When R comes after O, it makes the “or” sound, like in 'for' and 'corn'.
OR makes the “or” sound. Unlike ER, IR, UR which all sound the same, OR has its own distinct sound. The companion rule r_controlled_or_er covers the “er” pronunciation after W (word, work).
Tip
OR — the horse in the corner says “or”!
Examples
Phonics Rule: TR Blend
Sound“tr”·/tr/
T and R blend together — you hear both sounds! Like in 'tree' and 'try'.
The blend TR combines /t/ and /r/ spoken quickly together.
Examples
Phonics Rule: AI Vowel Team
Sound“ay”·/eɪ/
When A and I are together, they say long A, like in 'rain' and 'train'.
The vowel team 'ai' makes the long A sound “ay”. It usually appears in the middle of a word. At the end of a word, the same sound is usually spelled 'ay'.
Tip
AI in the middle says long A — rain on the train!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Suffix -TURE
Sound“cher”·/tʃər/
-TURE sounds like “cher”, like in 'picture' and 'nature'.
The suffix -TURE is pronounced “cher”. Examples: picture, nature, future, creature, adventure, mixture.
Tip
-TURE says cher — picture, nature, future!
Examples
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