ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
How to pronounce experiment in American English
ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt
Start here
Americans pronounce experiment as ihk-SPEH-ruh-muhnt (/ɪkˈspɛrəmənt/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He will conduct an experiment in the lab" or "The experiment failed to produce the expected results" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "experiment".
4 syllables, 11 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.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "experiment" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He will conduct an experiment in the lab."
hee wihl kuhn·DUHKT uhn ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt ihn dhuh LAB
"The experiment demonstrated the principles of thermodynamics."
dhee ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt DEH·muhn·stray·duhd dhuh PRIHN·suh·puhlz uhv thur·moh·dahy·NA·muhks
"The experiment failed to produce the expected results."
dhee ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt FAYLD tuh pruh·DOOS dhee uhk·spehk·tuhd ruh·ZUHLTS
"The results of the experiment exceeded our initial expectations."
dhuh ruh·ZUHLTS uhv dhee ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt ihk·SEE·duhd owr ih·NIH·shuhl ehk·spehk·TAY·shuhnz
"The methodology section describes how the experiment was performed."
dhuh meh·thuh·DAH·luh·jee SEHK·shuhn duh·SKRAHYBZ HOW dhee ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt wuhz per·FORMD
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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 "experiment", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
experiment→ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch SPEH — keep everything else short and quick.
IHK·speh·RUH·MUHNT→ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt
03
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the second syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
ihk·SPEH·RUH·muhnt→ihk·SPEH·ruh·muhnt
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "experiment" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SPEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ihk-SPEH-ruh-muhnt" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "experiment" 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 "ihk-SPEH-ruh-muhnt" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "experiment" 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 "ihk-SPEH-ruh-muhnt" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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