b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce beehives in American English
BEE·hahyvz
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Americans pronounce beehives as BEE-hahyvz (/ˈbiˌhaɪvz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The apiary houses several beehives for honey production".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "beehives".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
ahy/aɪ/
Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch BEE — keep everything else short and quick.
bee·HAHYVZ→BEE·HAHYVZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "beehives" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "BEE" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "BEE-hahyvz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "beehives" 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 "BEE-hahyvz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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