How to pronounce ash in American English

IPA /æʃ/ Syllables 1 · ash Stress 1st syllable

ASH

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Americans pronounce ash as ASH (/æʃ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The volcano erupted, spewing ash and lava into the air".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "ash".

1 syllable, 2 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

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.

sh/ʃ/

Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "ash" in the wild.

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"The volcano erupted, spewing ash and lava into the air."

dhuh vahl·KAY·noh uh·RUHP·tuhd SPYOO·uhng ASH and LAH·vuh ihn·tuh dhee AIR

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "ash" 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 "ASH" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.