'd

/d/

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: 5.46 in modern English

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

verb

verb

Contraction of would or should.

verb

Colloquial

"He’d done his best, but it hadn't been enough."
"You’d seen it before anyone else had."
"I’d better not."
"They baby’d been crying all night."
"p’rhaps you didn’t say the cow was a red Durham; and p’rhaps you didn’t say she’d got a star on her brow"
"I'd no reason to doubt him."

Contraction of would or had.

’ll ’m ’re ’s ’ve

'ld

Questions

How do you pronounce 'd?

The recorded pronunciation is /d/.

What does 'd mean?

Contraction of had, as an auxiliary verb.

Where does 'd come from?

Contraction of would or had.

How to pronounce 'd

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “'d”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/d/) so you know which sounds to aim for.

Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “'d”.

Repeat and practice — Say “'d” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.