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 discourse in American English
DIH·skors
Start here
Americans pronounce discourse as DIH-skors (/ˈdɪskɔrs/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Grassroots movements have influenced political discourse significantly".
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Record yourself saying "discourse" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "discourse".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
or/ɔr/
Start with the 'aw' jaw drop and rounded lips. Pull the tongue back and up while keeping the lips rounded for the R.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
In real conversation
Hear "discourse" 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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch DIH — keep everything else short and quick.
dih·SKORS→DIH·skors
02
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 "discourse" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "DIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "DIH-skors" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "discourse"?
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 "discourse" 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 "DIH-skors" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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