s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
How to pronounce century in American English
SEHN·chuh·ree
Start here
Americans pronounce century as SEHN-chuh-ree (/ˈsɛntʃəri/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She is a fan of classic literature from the nineteenth century".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "century".
3 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
ch/tʃ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'sh' position. Flare your lips.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
r/r/
SyllabicThe schwa before R disappears — R becomes the vowel of the syllable. This is the 'er' sound without a distinct vowel before it.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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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 SEHN — keep everything else short and quick.
sehn·CHUH·REE→SEHN·chuh·ree
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
SEHN·CHUH·ree→SEHN·chuh·ree
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "century" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "SEHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "SEHN-chuh-ree" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "century" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "SEHN-chuh-ree" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "century" 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 "SEHN-chuh-ree" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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