k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce crazy in American English
KRAY·zee
Start here
Americans pronounce crazy as KRAY-zee (/ˈkreɪzi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The car key was stuck in the crazy lock" or "Zero zones were frozen in the crazy maze" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "crazy".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
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 "crazy" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The car key was stuck in the crazy lock."
dhuh KAR KEE wuhz STUHK ihn dhuh KRAY·zee LAHK
"The crazy lady made a strange claim about the baby."
dhuh KRAY·zee LAY·dee MAYD uh STRAYNJ KLAYM uh·BOWT dhuh BAY·bee
"Zero zones were frozen in the crazy maze."
ZEE·roh ZOHNZ wer FROH·zuhn ihn dhuh KRAY·zee MAYZ
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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 KRAY — keep everything else short and quick.
kray·ZEE→KRAY·zee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "crazy" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "KRAY" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "KRAY-zee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "crazy" 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 "KRAY-zee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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