How to pronounce cash in American English

IPA /kæʃ/ Syllables 1 · kash Stress 1st syllable

KASH

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Americans pronounce cash as KASH (/kæʃ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Wish for cash" or "Are you paying with cash or credit?" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "cash".

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.

a/æ/

Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.

sh/ʃ/

Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "cash" in the wild.

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

"According to the contract, cash is king."

uh·KOR·duhng tuh dhuh KAHN·trakt KASH ihz KIHNG

"Are you paying with cash or credit?"

ar yoo PAY·uhng wihth KASH or KREH·duht

"He doesn't have much cash with him."

hee DUH·zuhnt hav muhch KASH wihth hihm

"Wish for cash."

WIHSH fer KASH

"You can pay with cash, a credit card, or a mobile app."

yoo kuhn PAY wihth KASH uh KREH·duht KARD or uh MOH·buhl AP

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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