Heard spelling

inflor escence

Spelled inflorescence. heard as two words

Is inflorescence one word or two?

One. Nothing in it stands alone: inflor is not a word and escence is not a word.

Five syllables with the stress in the middle sound like a phrase, and the ear obligingly puts a gap where the stress starts. The real join is much earlier, between the prefix in- and florescence, the process of coming into flower. Florescence does exist on its own. Inflor does not.

Say

in-flor-ESS-uhnss

Letters

I-N-F-L-O-R-E-S-C-E-N-C-E