youngest
PronouncedYUHNG-guhst
adjectiveBorn more recently than all the others in a family or group.
nounThe person who was born most recently in a family or group.
Syllables
2 syllables
Letters
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: Letter Y (Consonant)
Sound“y”·/j/
At the start of a word or syllable, Y makes the /j/ sound, like in 'yes', 'yet', and 'yell'.
Y at the beginning of a word acts as a consonant and makes the /j/ sound. In the middle or end of a word, Y acts as a vowel (gym, happy, my). Context determines which role Y plays.
Tip
Y at the start says /j/ — yes, you got it!
Examples
Phonics Rule: OU says “uh”
Sound“uh”·/ʌ/
OU can say the short “uh” sound, like in 'touch', 'country', and 'double'.
OU sometimes says the short-u “uh” sound, especially in common words: touch, country, young, double, trouble, cousin, couple.
Tip
OU can say uh — touch, young, double!
Examples
Phonics Rule: NG Digraph
Sound“ng”·/ŋ/
NG together makes the “ng” sound at the back of your mouth, like in 'ring' and 'song'.
The digraph 'ng' makes the nasal sound “ng”. This sound is made at the back of your mouth/throat. It almost always appears at the end of a word or syllable.
Tip
Sing a song — NG rings along!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Suffix -EST
Sound“ist”·/ɪst/
Adding -EST means 'the most', like 'biggest' and 'fastest'.
The suffix -est makes a superlative — it means 'the most' of something. 'Big' → 'biggest' means the most big of all.
Examples
What is SnapPhonics?
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