How to pronounce cage in American English

IPA /keɪdʒ/ Syllables 1 · kayj Stress 1st syllable

KAYJ

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Americans pronounce cage as KAYJ (/keɪdʒ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Break the chain and escape the dangerous cage".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "cage".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

k/k/

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

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.

j/dʒ/

Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.

In real conversation

Hear "cage" in the wild.

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"Break the chain and escape the dangerous cage."

BRAYK dhuh CHAYN and uh·SKAYP dhuh DAYN·jer·uhs KAYJ

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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