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 episode in American English
EH·puh·sohd
Start here
Americans pronounce episode as EH-puh-sohd (/ˈɛpəˌsoʊd/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Have you seen the latest episode of that show?".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "episode".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
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.
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch EH — keep everything else short and quick.
eh·PUH·SOHD→EH·puh·SOHD
02
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
EH·PUH·sohd→EH·puh·SOHD
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "episode" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "EH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "EH-puh-sohd" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "episode" 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 "EH-puh-sohd" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "episode" 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 "EH-puh-sohd" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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