How to pronounce fi in American English

IPA /faɪ/ Syllables 1 · fahy

fahy

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Americans pronounce fi as fahy (/faɪ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Is the Wi-Fi working for you?" or "What is the password for the Wi-Fi?" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "fi".

1 syllable, 2 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

f/f/

Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.

ahy/aɪ/

Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.

In real conversation

Hear "fi" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"Is the Wi-Fi working for you?"

ihz dhuh WAHY fahy WUR·kuhng fer yoo

"The special effects make the sci-fi world look incredibly realistic."

dhuh SPEH·shuhl uh·FEHKTS MAYK dhuh SAHY fahy WURLD LUUK uhn·KREH·duh·blee ree·uh·LIH·stuhk

"What is the password for the Wi-Fi?"

wuht ihz dhuh PAS·werd fer dhuh WAHY fahy

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "fi" 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 "fahy" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.