eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
How to pronounce empty in American English
EHMP·tee
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Americans pronounce empty as EHMP-tee (/ˈɛmpti/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I prefer shopping early in the morning when the store is empty".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "empty".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "empty", the "t" 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.
empty→EHMP·tee
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch EHMP — keep everything else short and quick.
ehmp·TEE→EHMP·tee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "empty" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "EHMP" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "EHMP-tee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "empty" 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 "EHMP-tee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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