k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce committee in American English
kuh·MIH·tee
Start here
Americans pronounce committee as kuh-MIH-tee (/kəˈmɪɾi/). In "committee", 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, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as kuh·MIH·tee. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The committee voted unanimously in favor of the new policy" or "I am working on my thesis proposal for the graduate committee" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "committee".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
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 "committee" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I am working on my thesis proposal for the graduate committee."
ahy uhm WUR·kuhng ahn mahy THEE·suhs pruh·POH·zuhl fer dhuh GRA·joo·uht kuh·MIH·dee
"The bipartisan committee reached an agreement on immigration reform."
dhuh bahy·PAR·tuh·zuhn kuh·MIH·dee REECHT uhn uh·GREE·muhnt ahn ih·muh·GRAY·shuhn ruh·FORM
"The committee voted unanimously in favor of the new policy."
dhuh kuh·MIH·dee VOH·duhd yoo·NA·nuh·muh·slee ihn FAY·ver uhv dhuh noo PAH·luh·see
"The ethics committee approved the study involving human participants."
dhee EH·thuhks kuh·MIH·dee uh·PROOVD dhuh STUH·dee ihn·VAHL·vuhng HYOO·muhn par·TIH·suh·puhnts
"The safety committee meets monthly to review workplace conditions."
dhuh SAYF·tee kuh·MIH·dee MEETS MUHNTH·lee tuh ruh·VYOO WURK·plays kuhn·DIH·shuhnz
"The scholarship committee will announce the recipients after graduation."
dhuh SKAH·ler·shihp kuh·MIH·dee wihl uh·NOWNS dhuh ruh·SIH·pee·uhnts AF·ter gra·joo·AY·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 "committee", 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.
kuh-MIH-tee→kuh·MIH·tee
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch MIH — keep everything else short and quick.
KUH·mih·TEE→kuh·MIH·tee
03
Pronouncing the first 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.
KUH·MIH·tee→kuh·MIH·tee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "committee" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "MIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kuh-MIH-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 "committee"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "committee" sounds closer to "kuh-MIH-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 first syllable in "committee" 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 "kuh-MIH-tee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "committee" 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 "kuh-MIH-tee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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