uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce economy in American English
uh·KAH·nuh·mee
Start here
Americans pronounce economy as uh-KAH-nuh-mee (/əˈkɑnəmi/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The federal deficit is a threat to the general economy" or "The rural community relies on agriculture for its economy" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "economy" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "economy".
4 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
m/m/
SyllabicThe schwa before M disappears — M becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to M.
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 "economy" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The federal deficit is a threat to the general economy."
dhuh FEH·der·uhl DEH·fuh·suht ihz uh THREHT tuh dhuh JEH·ner·uhl uh·KAH·nuh·mee
"The government implemented stimulus measures to boost the economy."
dhuh GUH·vern·muhnt IHM·pluh·mehn·tuhd STIH·myuh·luhs MEH·zherz tuh BOOST dhee uh·KAH·nuh·mee
"The rural community relies on agriculture for its economy."
dhuh RUUR·uhl kuh·MYOO·nuh·tee ruh·LAHYZ ahn A·gruh·kuhl·cher fer ihts uh·KAH·nuh·mee
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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch KAH — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·kah·NUH·MEE→uh·KAH·nuh·mee
02
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.
UH·KAH·nuh·mee→uh·KAH·nuh·mee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "economy" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "KAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-KAH-nuh-mee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "economy" 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 "uh-KAH-nuh-mee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "economy" 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 "uh-KAH-nuh-mee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "economy". 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.