How to pronounce “Norwich”

NO-rij

2 syllables · stress on “NO”

NOrij

Britishˈnɒrɪdʒ

Americanˈnɔːrɪdʒ

In short

“Norwich” is pronounced NO-rij: 2 syllables, with the stress on “NO”. The same silent-w rule as Greenwich, but here the ending is voiced: “-rij”, rhyming with “porridge”, not “-ich”. The version to avoid is NOR-witch — sounding the w.

Say “Norwich” in 3 steps

1Two syllables: NO-rij.
2The w is silent.
3It rhymes with “porridge”.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: NOR-witch — sounding the w

The same silent-w rule as Greenwich, but here the ending is voiced: “-rij”, rhyming with “porridge”, not “-ich”.

Hear real people say it

Model audio is consistent; real speech is not. Hearing several actual speakers is what makes a word recognisable when someone says it at full speed.

Real speakers

1 human recording

Actual people saying “Norwich”, not a synthetic voice. Real speech varies — that variation is what you need to recognise, and what a single model voice cannot show you.

Recordings from Wikimedia Commons by The Voice of Hassocks, licensed under Public domain. Full credits.

Practise it out loud

Reading about a sound does not change your mouth. Say it, hear it back, and fix one thing at a time.

Say it yourself

0/6 practised

Listen first, then record. You get feedback on the individual sounds, the stress and the rhythm — no account needed, and nothing is stored.

Three speakers per accent

Recordings are used only to generate this feedback and are not stored. Your accent is never penalised: IELTS scores intelligibility, and so do we.

The sounds inside this word

Each links to a full guide with mouth position, audio and drills. If a word keeps failing, the problem is usually one of these.

nn as in no ɒo as in hot rr as in red ɪi as in sit dʒj as in job

More british place names

Same pattern, same fix. Learning them as a group is far faster than one at a time.

WorcestershireWUUS-tuh-shuh LeicesterLES-tuh GloucesterGLOS-tuh EdinburghED-in-bruh ThamesTEMZ GreenwichGREN-ich

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce Norwich?

Norwich is pronounced NO-rij, written /ˈnɒrɪdʒ/ in IPA. Two syllables: NO-rij.

How many syllables are in Norwich?

two: NO-rij. The stress falls on “NO”.

What is the most common mistake with Norwich?

NOR-witch — sounding the w. The same silent-w rule as Greenwich, but here the ending is voiced: “-rij”, rhyming with “porridge”, not “-ich”.

The full sound library

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