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 discussion in American English
duh·SKUH·shuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce discussion as duh-SKUH-shuhn (/dəˈskʌʃən/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "It's an interesting topic for discussion" or "They had a lengthy discussion about the topic" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "discussion".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue 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.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
In real conversation
Hear "discussion" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"As per our discussion, I have attached the revised proposal."
az per ar duh·SKUH·shuhn ahy hav uh·TACHT dhuh ruh·VAHYZD pruh·POH·zuhl
"Could you please summarize the key points from our discussion?"
kuud yoo PLEEZ SUH·muh·rahyz dhuh KEE POYNTS fruhm owr duh·SKUH·shuhn
"I appreciate everyone's input during our discussion earlier today."
ahy uh·PREE·shee·ayt EHV·ree·wuhnz IHN·puut DUUR·uhng ar duh·SKUH·shuhn UR·lee·er tuh·DAY
"It's an interesting topic for discussion."
ihts uhn IHN·truh·stuhng TAH·puhk fer duh·SKUH·shuhn
"The discussion section meets once a week on Friday afternoons."
dhuh duh·SKUH·shuhn SEHK·shuhn MEETS WUHNS uh WEEK ahn FRAHY·day a·fter·NOONZ
"They had a lengthy discussion about the topic."
dhay had uh LEHNG·thee duh·SKUH·shuhn uh·BOWT dhuh TAH·puhk
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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
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "discussion", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
discussion→duh·SKUH·shuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch SKUH — keep everything else short and quick.
DUH·skuh·SHUHN→duh·SKUH·shuhn
03
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
DUH·SKUH·shuhn→duh·SKUH·shuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "discussion" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SKUH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "duh-SKUH-shuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "discussion" 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 "duh-SKUH-shuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "discussion" 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 "duh-SKUH-shuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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