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enter image description here What is the right way of pronouncing "blessed"?

is it "blest" or "Bles-id"?

I hear people pronouncing it different ways, apparently both ways mean the same thing.

Kaique
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3 Answers3

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As a verb, blessed is pronounced "blest." As a part of an adverb ("blessedly") it is pronounced "bles-id." As an adjective, it is pronounced "bles-id" though Americans may pronounce it "blest."

https://data.grammarbook.com/blog/definitions/pronouncing-the-word-blessed/

yuankhan
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  • Good point about different parts of speech. I was only thinking of the adjective. – Mixolydian Apr 09 '19 at 23:38
  • Per the OED, "blest" is given as the primary British pronunciation: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/blessed So can you please support your statement about American versus British? In the link you provided, the example "the poor are blessed" is noted to be pronounced "blest" – ib11 Apr 09 '19 at 23:40
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Both are correct- it depends on the context.

#blessed

This is pronounced “hashtag blest”.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

I would tend to pronounce this as “bless-ed” but I think it can go either way. Also note that if it is spelled “blessèd”, the diacritical mark indicates that the syllable is pronounced (so this would be pronounced with two syllables, “bless-ed”).

EDIT: as @yuankhan points out, if this is a verb or part of an adverb, different rules apply. I’m only talking about the adjective and assuming this is the part of speech you are unsure about.

EDIT 2: I originally said I thought that “blest” was a modern pronunciation and “bless-ed” was an archaic one. I don’t have much evidence to support this, besides the fact that in general, adjectives or past participles formed this way are not pronounced with an extra syllable. In Shakespeare’s time, this might not have been true - see e.g. Romeo and Juliet: “Some shall be pardoned, and some punishèd”.

Mixolydian
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Both are correct, see https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/blessed

"blest" is given as the first alternate.

"blessid" is given as the second alternate.

ib11
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