Pronunciation of -ed

#pronunciation Published: 2022-01-18

Long ago, when I first learned the word naked, I thought its pronunciation was odd (/ˈneɪkɪd/). Since then, I have encountered several words that sound similarly: crooked, wicked, etc.

The other day, I found an interesting page on this topic. For each word in this list(some omitted), I looked it up on the Internet (mostly the OED and YouGlish) and also talked about it with two native speakers from America. Here’s what I found out (or how I understood them).

always long (/ɪd/)

The words jagged, naked, rugged, sacred, and wicked are always pronounced as /ɪd/ (long).

always short (/əd/ (or /ət/))

The words learned and reserved are almost always pronounced as short, although one native speaker says long learned can be acceptable.

both

The words beloved, blessed, cursed, legged, and winged¹ can be pronounced in both ways (when used not as a verb). Some say that beloved is usually short, while some say it is usually long (in YouGlish, it is almost always pronounced long). Long blessed seems to be heard in a formal speech today.

The words crooked and wretched seem to just depend on its part of speech (short for a verb, long for an adjective), although the verb crook may not be really common.

As for the word aged, some dictionaries specifically state that when it means “very old”, it is pronounced long, and otherwise, short. However, both native speakers I talked to are so accustomed to hearing and pronouncing it as a short one in any sense, and long one just sounds odd or too old.

Dogged usually seems to be long, but some say that it is always short, and I’m not really sure.

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