uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce enthusiasm in American English
uhn·THOO·zee·a·zuhm
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Americans pronounce enthusiasm as uhn-THOO-zee-a-zuhm (/ənˈθuziˌæzəm/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "His enthusiasm is contagious".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "enthusiasm".
5 syllables, 10 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.
th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
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.
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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 "enthusiasm", the short unstressed vowel before "m" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "m" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
enthusiasm→uhn·THOO·zee·A·zuhm
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch THOO — keep everything else short and quick.
UHN·thoo·ZEE·A·ZUHM→uhn·THOO·zee·A·zuhm
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·THOO·zee·a·zuhm→uhn·THOO·zee·A·zuhm
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "enthusiasm" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "THOO" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhn-THOO-zee-a-zuhm" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "enthusiasm" 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-THOO-zee-a-zuhm" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "enthusiasm" 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-THOO-zee-a-zuhm" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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