ch/tʃ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'sh' position. Flare your lips.
How to pronounce charity in American English
CHEH·ruh·tee
Start here
Americans pronounce charity as CHEH-ruh-tee (/ˈtʃɛrəɾi/). In "charity", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as CHEH·ruh·tee. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I donated my old books to a charity shop to make space" or "She volunteered to help organize the local charity run" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "charity".
3 syllables, 6 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.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
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 "charity" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I donated my old books to a charity shop to make space."
ahy DOH·nay·tuhd mahy OHLD BUUKS tuh uh CHEH·ruh·tee SHAHP tuh MAYK SPAYS
"She volunteered to help organize the local charity run."
shee vah·luhn·TEERD tuh HEHLP OR·guh·nahyz dhuh LOH·kuhl CHEH·ruh·tee RUHN
"The charity supports refugees fleeing conflict and persecution."
dhuh CHEH·ruh·tee suh·PORTS REH·fyoo·JEEZ FLEE·uhng KAHN·flihkt and pur·suh·KYOO·shuhn
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "charity", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
CHEH-ruh-tee→CHEH·ruh·tee
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch CHEH — keep everything else short and quick.
cheh·RUH·TEE→CHEH·ruh·tee
03
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.
CHEH·RUH·tee→CHEH·ruh·tee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "charity" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "CHEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "CHEH-ruh-tee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "charity"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "charity" sounds closer to "CHEH-ruh-tee" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the second syllable in "charity" 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 "CHEH-ruh-tee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "charity" 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 "CHEH-ruh-tee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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