k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce contemporary in American English
kuhn·TEHM·puh·reh·ree
Start here
Americans pronounce contemporary as kuhn-TEHM-puh-reh-ree (/kənˈtɛmpəˌrɛri/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The seminar focused on contemporary issues in environmental science".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "contemporary".
5 syllables, 12 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.
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.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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.
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.
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 "contemporary" in the wild.
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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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch TEHM — keep everything else short and quick.
KUHN·tehm·PUH·REH·REE→kuhn·TEHM·puh·REH·ree
02
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.
KUHN·TEHM·puh·reh·ree→kuhn·TEHM·puh·REH·ree
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "contemporary" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TEHM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kuhn-TEHM-puh-reh-ree" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "contemporary" 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 "kuhn-TEHM-puh-reh-ree" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "contemporary" 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 "kuhn-TEHM-puh-reh-ree" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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