this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2026
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Foreign does not use the same sound as neighbor.
nAYbor
forEN
It does sound like forayn to me.
The most common pronounciations are "for-in" and "for-un".
Source: English linguistics student who can read phonetic notation
It absolutely doesn't have a hard E vowel sound. Except when my deep south relatives say it.
Yes, you are correct that it does not have a hard E sound
Because it's not a "hard" E.... it's a mid-central vowel in "foreign" (schwa): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel (like when going "uh")
Proof in an American dictionary: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foreign
While "ei" in "Neighbor" is NOT a schwa, it's an "ay": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neighbor