uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce endangered in American English
uhn·DAYN·jerd
Start here
Americans pronounce endangered as uhn-DAYN-jerd (/ənˈdeɪndʒərd/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She advocates for the protection of endangered species" or "Endangered species need protection from poachers to survive" — more examples below.
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Record yourself saying "endangered" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "endangered".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
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.
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.
j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "endangered" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Endangered species need protection from poachers to survive."
uhn·DAYN·jerd SPEE·sheez NEED pruh·TEHK·shuhn fruhm POH·cherz tuh ser·VAHYV
"She advocates for the protection of endangered species."
shee AD·vuh·kayts fer dhuh pruh·TEHK·shuhn uhv uhn·DAYN·jerd SPEE·sheez
"The protected area has helped endangered species populations recover."
dhuh pruh·TEHK·tuhd AIR·ee·uh huhz HEHLPT uhn·DAYN·jerd SPEE·sheez pahp·yuh·LAY·shuhnz ruh·KUH·ver
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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 "endangered", the "d" 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.
endangered→uhn·DAYN·jerd
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch DAYN — keep everything else short and quick.
UHN·dayn·JERD→uhn·DAYN·jerd
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.
UHN·DAYN·jerd→uhn·DAYN·jerd
04
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 "endangered" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "DAYN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhn-DAYN-jerd" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "endangered" 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 "uhn-DAYN-jerd" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "endangered"?
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 "endangered" 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 "uhn-DAYN-jerd" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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