Heard spelling

faniculus

Spelled funiculus. an unstressed vowel

Is the first vowel an a?

No, it is a u, and it says fyoo. The word starts from funis, Latin for rope.

Faniculus writes the first syllable as if it were unstressed, which it very nearly is. The weight of the word sits on NIC and everything in front of that gets squeezed. Funicular, the cable railway, keeps the same root and the same squeeze.

Say

fyoo-NIK-yuu-luss

Letters

F-U-N-I-C-U-L-U-S