k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce cure in American English
KYUUR
Start here
Americans pronounce cure as KYUUR (/kjʊr/). You'll hear it in sentences like "We need a cure" or "Endure the poor tour for the cure" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "cure".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
y/j/
Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth, but stop just short of touching. /j/ is an approximant, not a stop. The tongue tip stays down, lightly resting near the back of your bottom front teeth. Voice runs through the whole gesture, and the tongue glides smoothly down into the next vowel. The lips stay neutral or pre-shape for the upcoming vowel (rounding early for OO in <em>youth</em>, for example).
uur/ʊr/
Start with the 'uu' position. Pull the tongue back and up while maintaining the lip flare.
In real conversation
Hear "cure" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Endure the poor tour for the cure."
uhn·DUUR dhuh PUUR TUUR fer dhuh KYUUR
"She is researching a new cure for cancer."
shee ihz ruh·SUR·chuhng uh noo KYUUR fer KAN·ser
"The cure for the allure is obscure."
dhuh KYUUR fer dhee uh·LUUR ihz uhb·SKYUUR
"The obscure caricature was a poor cure."
dhee uhb·SKYUUR KAIR·ih·kuh·chuur wuhz uh PUUR KYUUR
"We need a cure."
wee NEED uh KYUUR
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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
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How do I pronounce the R in "cure"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "cure" 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 "KYUUR" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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