How to pronounce caves in American English

IPA /keɪvz/ Syllables 1 · kayvz Stress 1st syllable

KAYVZ

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Americans pronounce caves as KAYVZ (/keɪvz/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He explored the caves and discovered ancient rock art".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "caves".

1 syllable, 4 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.

v/v/

Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.

z/z/

Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.

In real conversation

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"He explored the caves and discovered ancient rock art."

hee uhk·SPLORD dhuh KAYVZ and duh·SKUH·verd AYN·shuhnt RAHK ART

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Questions

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