How to pronounce brick in American English

IPA /brɪk/ Syllables 1 · brihk Stress 1st syllable

BRIHK

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Americans pronounce brick as BRIHK (/brɪk/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The quick kick broke the brick and the stick" or "The vines climbed up the side of the brick house" — more examples below.

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

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Intonation

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Fluency

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72% Noticeable accent

Common mistakes

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "brick", the "k" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "brick".

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.

ih/ɪ/

Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.

k/k/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.

In real conversation

Hear "brick" in the wild.

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

"The quick kick broke the brick and the stick."

dhuh KWIHK KIHK BROHK dhuh BRIHK and dhuh STIHK

"The vines climbed up the side of the brick house."

dhuh VAHYNZ KLAHYMD UHP dhuh SAHYD uhv dhuh BRIHK HOWS

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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.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

In "brick", the "k" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.

brick→BRIHK

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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

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Overall assessment

Common mistakes

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Every sound in "brick".

Hear "brick" in the wild.

Words that work the same way.

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.

Questions people ask about this.

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