b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce busy in American English
BIH·zee
Start here
Americans pronounce busy as BIH-zee (/ˈbɪzi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I would if I could, but I'm too busy" or "It's a very busy season for our business" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "busy".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "busy" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"His cousin was busy choosing a dozen roses."
hihz KUH·zuhn wuhz BIH·zee CHOO·zuhng uh DUH·zuhn ROH·zuhz
"I bet the biology lab is busy before breaks."
ahy BEHT dhuh bahy·AH·luh·jee LAB ihz BIH·zee buh·FOR BRAYKS
"I would if I could, but I'm too busy."
ahy wuud ihf ahy kuud buht ahym TOO BIH·zee
"It's a very busy season for our business."
ihts uh VEH·ree BIH·zee SEE·zuhn fer owr BIHZ·nuhs
"The typical citizen is busy with illicit business."
dhuh TIH·puh·kuhl SIH·duh·zuhn ihz BIH·zee wihth ih·LIH·suht BIHZ·nuhs
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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 BIH — keep everything else short and quick.
bih·ZEE→BIH·zee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "busy" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "BIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "BIH-zee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "busy" 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 "BIH-zee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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