How to pronounce brain in American English

IPA /breɪn/ Syllables 1 · brayn Stress 1st syllable

BRAYN

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Americans pronounce brain as BRAYN (/breɪn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The mri scan provided detailed images of the brain" or "The nervous system transmits signals between the brain and the body" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "brain".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

b/b/

Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

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.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

In real conversation

Hear "brain" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"The mri scan provided detailed images of the brain."

dhee ehm·ar·AHY SKAN pruh·VAHY·duhd DEE·tayld IH·muh·juhz uhv dhuh BRAYN

"The nervous system transmits signals between the brain and the body."

dhuh NUR·vuhs SIH·stuhm tran·SMIHTS SIHG·nuhlz buh·TWEEN dhuh BRAYN and dhuh BAH·dee

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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