How to pronounce breathe in American English

IPA /brið/ Syllables 1 · breedh Stress 1st syllable

BREEDH

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Americans pronounce breathe as BREEDH (/brið/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I breathe smoothly" or "I think they will breathe the fresh air today" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "breathe".

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.

ee/i/

Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.

dh/ð/

Place your tongue tip between or behind your front teeth, turn your vocal cords on, and push air through the gap.

In real conversation

Hear "breathe" in the wild.

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

"Breathe together and gather your thoughts there."

BREEDH tuh·GEH·dher and GA·dher yer THAHTS DHAIR

"I think they will breathe the fresh air today."

ahy THIHNGK dhay wihl BREEDH dhuh FREHSH AIR tuh·DAY

"Trees provide shade and clean the air we breathe."

TREEZ pruh·VAHYD SHAYD and KLEEN dhee AIR wee BREEDH

"I breathe smoothly."

ahy BREEDH SMOODH·lee

"Mother and father think they should breathe deeply."

MUH·dher uhnd FAH·dher THIHNGK dhay shuhd BREEDH DEE·plee

"They think the thick fog makes it hard to breathe."

dhay THIHNGK dhuh THIHK FAHG MAYKS iht HARD tuh BREEDH

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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