uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce amazing in American English
uh·MAY·zuhng
Start here
Americans pronounce amazing as uh-MAY-zuhng (/əˈmeɪzəŋ/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The effect of the change was amazing" or "What's the price of that amazing prize?" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "amazing".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "amazing" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Something smells amazing in the kitchen."
SUHM·thuhng SMEHLZ uh·MAY·zuhng ihn dhuh KIH·chuhn
"The effect of the change was amazing."
dhee uh·FEHKT uhv dhuh CHAYNJ wuhz uh·MAY·zuhng
"The music museum was amazing simply because."
dhuh MYOO·zuhk myoo·ZEE·uhm wuhz uh·MAY·zuhng SIHM·plee buh·KUHZ
"This new restaurant has amazing reviews."
dhihs noo REH·stuh·rahnt huhz uh·MAY·zuhng ruh·VYOOZ
"We had amazing seafood for dinner last night."
wee had uh·MAY·zuhng SEE·food fer DIH·ner last NAHYT
"What's the price of that amazing prize?"
WUHTS dhuh PRAHYS uhv dhat uh·MAY·zuhng PRAHYZ
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch MAY — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·may·ZUHNG→uh·MAY·zuhng
02
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
UH·MAY·zuhng→uh·MAY·zuhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "amazing" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "MAY" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-MAY-zuhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "amazing" 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 "uh-MAY-zuhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "amazing" 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 "uh-MAY-zuhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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