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 expertise in American English
ehk·sper·TEEZ
Start here
Americans pronounce expertise as ehk-sper-TEEZ (/ˌɛkspərˈtiz/). Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Our team has the expertise to handle projects of this scale" or "Your technical expertise has been instrumental in solving complex issues" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "expertise".
3 syllables, 8 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.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
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.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "expertise" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Our team has the expertise to handle projects of this scale."
owr TEEM huhz dhee ehk·sper·TEEZ tuh HAN·duhl PRAH·jehkts uhv dhihs SKAYL
"Your technical expertise has been instrumental in solving complex issues."
yor TEHK·nuh·kuhl ehk·sper·TEEZ huhz bihn ihn·struh·MEHN·tuhl ihn SAHL·vuhng KAHM·plehks IH·shooz
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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 third syllable, not the others. Stretch TEEZ — keep everything else short and quick.
EHK·SPER·teez→EHK·sper·TEEZ
02
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 "expertise" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "TEEZ" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ehk-sper-TEEZ" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "expertise"?
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 "expertise" 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 "ehk-sper-TEEZ" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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