b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce breathing in American English
BREE·dhuhng
Start here
Americans pronounce breathing as BREE-dhuhng (/ˈbriðəŋ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Breathing deeply can help you relax" or "The stretching class focuses on breathing and flexibility" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "breathing".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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 "breathing" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Breathing deeply can help you relax."
BREE·dhuhng DEE·plee kuhn HEHLP yoo ruh·LAKS
"She practices breathing exercises every evening to reduce stress and anxiety."
shee PRAK·tuh·suhz BREE·dhuhng EHK·ser·sahy·zuhz EHV·ree EEV·nuhng tuh ruh·DOOS STREHS uhnd ang·ZAHY·uh·tee
"The stretching class focuses on breathing and flexibility."
dhuh STREH·chuhng KLAS FOH·kuh·suhz ahn BREE·dhuhng uhnd flehk·suh·BIH·luh·tee
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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 BREE — keep everything else short and quick.
bree·DHUHNG→BREE·dhuhng
02
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
BREE·DHUHNG→BREE·dhuhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "breathing" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "BREE" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "BREE-dhuhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "breathing" 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 "BREE-dhuhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "breathing" 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 "BREE-dhuhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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