d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
How to pronounce deeply in American English
DEE·plee
Start here
Americans pronounce deeply as DEE-plee (/ˈdipli/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Breathing deeply can help you relax" or "Mother and father think they should breathe deeply" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "deeply".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
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 "deeply" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Breathing deeply can help you relax."
BREE·dhuhng DEE·plee kuhn HEHLP yoo ruh·LAKS
"I appreciate movies that challenge the audience to think deeply."
ahy uh·PREE·shee·ayt MOO·veez dhuht CHA·luhnj dhee AH·dee·uhns tuh thihngk DEE·plee
"I did not mean to hurt your feelings and I deeply regret it."
ahy dihd NAHT MEEN tuh HURT yer FEE·luhngz and ahy DEE·plee ruh·GREHT iht
"I was deeply moved by the kindness of complete strangers."
ahy wuhz DEE·plee moovd bahy dhuh KAHYND·nuhs uhv kuhm·PLEET STRAYN·jerz
"Mother and father think they should breathe deeply."
MUH·dher uhnd FAH·dher THIHNGK dhay shuhd BREEDH DEE·plee
"The ceremony was deeply moving and brought tears to many eyes."
dhuh SEH·ruh·moh·nee wuhz DEE·plee MOO·vuhng and BRAHT TEERZ tuh MEH·nee AHYZ
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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 DEE — keep everything else short and quick.
dee·PLEE→DEE·plee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "deeply" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "DEE" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "DEE-plee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "deeply" 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 "DEE-plee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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