ur/ɜr/
Flare your lips and push them away from the face. Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.
How to pronounce earthquake in American English
URTH·kwayk
Start here
Americans pronounce earthquake as URTH-kwayk (/ˈɜrθˌkweɪk/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The seismograph detected tremors from the earthquake" or "The earthquake caused significant damage to the infrastructure" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "earthquake" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "earthquake".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
w/w/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
In real conversation
Hear "earthquake" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The earthquake caused significant damage to the infrastructure."
dhee URTH·kwayk KAHZD suhg·NIH·fuh·kuhnt DA·muhj tuh dhee IHN·fruh·struhk·cher
"The seismograph detected tremors from the earthquake."
dhuh SAHYZ·muh·graf duh·TEHK·tuhd TREH·merz fruhm dhee URTH·kwayk
"The tsunami warning was issued after the underwater earthquake."
dhuh soo·NAH·mee WOR·nuhng wuhz IH·shood AF·ter dhee uhn·der·WAH·der URTH·kwayk
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "earthquake", the "k" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
earthquake→URTH·KWAYK
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch URTH — keep everything else short and quick.
urth·KWAYK→URTH·KWAYK
03
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 "earthquake" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "URTH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "URTH-kwayk" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "earthquake"?
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 "earthquake" 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 "URTH-kwayk" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "earthquake". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.