s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
How to pronounce cybersecurity in American English
sahy·ber·suh·KYUUR·uh·tee
Start here
Americans pronounce cybersecurity as sahy-ber-suh-KYUUR-uh-tee (/ˌsaɪbərsəˈkjʊrəɾi/). In "cybersecurity", 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, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as SAHY·ber·suh·KYUUR·uh·tee. Stress falls on the fourth syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Cybersecurity threats have increased significantly in recent years".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "cybersecurity".
6 syllables, 12 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ahy/aɪ/
Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
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.
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 "cybersecurity" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
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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 "cybersecurity", 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.
sahy-ber-suh-KYUUR-uh-tee→SAHY·ber·suh·KYUUR·uh·tee
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the fourth syllable, not the others. Stretch KYUUR — keep everything else short and quick.
SAHY·BER·SUH·kyuur·UH·TEE→SAHY·ber·suh·KYUUR·uh·tee
03
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the second syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
sahy·ber·SUH·KYUUR·uh·tee→SAHY·ber·suh·KYUUR·uh·tee
04
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 is "cybersecurity" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the fourth syllable — say "KYUUR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "sahy-ber-suh-KYUUR-uh-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 "cybersecurity"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "cybersecurity" sounds closer to "sahy-ber-suh-KYUUR-uh-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 third syllable in "cybersecurity" 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 "sahy-ber-suh-KYUUR-uh-tee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "cybersecurity"?
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.
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