a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
How to pronounce accident in American English
AK·suh·duhnt
Start here
Americans pronounce accident as AK-suh-duhnt (/ˈæksədənt/). In "accident", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. So instead of AK·suh·tuhnt, you get AK·suh·duhnt. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I must have packed the wrong bag by accident" or "The academic application was accepted after the accident" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "accident".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
d/d/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Same as Flap T — a quick tap without stopping airflow.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
In real conversation
Hear "accident" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I must have packed the wrong bag by accident."
ahy MUHST huhv PAKT dhuh RAHNG BAG bahy AK·suh·duhnt
"She sought damages for the injury she sustained in the accident."
shee SAHT DA·muh·juhz fer dhee IHN·juh·ree shee suh·STAYND ihn dhee AK·suh·duhnt
"She witnessed the accident and gave a statement to the police."
shee WIHT·nuhst dhee AK·suh·duhnt and GAYV uh STAYT·muhnt tuh dhuh puh·LEES
"The academic application was accepted after the accident."
dhee a·kuh·DEH·muhk a·pluh·KAY·shuhn wuhz uhk·SEHP·tuhd AF·ter dhee AK·suh·duhnt
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "accident", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
AK-suh-tuhnt→AK·suh·duhnt
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "accident", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
accident→AK·suh·duhnt
03
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "accident", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
accident→AK·suh·duhnt
04
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch AK — keep everything else short and quick.
ak·SUH·DUHNT→AK·suh·duhnt
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "accident" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "AK" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "AK-suh-duhnt" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "accident"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "accident" sounds closer to "AK-suh-duhnt" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the second syllable in "accident" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "AK-suh-duhnt" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "accident" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "AK-suh-duhnt" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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