f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
How to pronounce field in American English
FEELD
Start here
Americans pronounce field as FEELD (/fild/). The L in "field" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. This is called the Dark L vs Light L, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as FEELD. You'll hear it in sentences like "The children are playing in the field" or "The scene revealed a green field near the beach" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "field" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "field".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "field" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He collected samples from the field for further analysis."
hee kuh·LEHK·tuhd SAM·puhlz fruhm dhuh FEELD fer FUR·dher uh·NA·luh·suhs
"He kicked a field goal to win the game in overtime."
hee KIHKT uh FEELD GOHL tuh WIHN dhuh GAYM ihn OH·ver·tahym
"She is interested in the field of biotechnology and its applications."
shee ihz IHN·truh·stuhd ihn dhuh FEELD uhv bahy·oh·tehk·NAH·luh·jee and ihts a·pluh·KAY·shuhnz
"She spent a semester abroad conducting field research."
shee SPEHNT uh suh·MEH·ster uh·BRAHD kuhn·DUHK·tuhng FEELD REE·surch
"The children are playing in the field."
dhuh CHIHL·druhn er PLAY·uhng ihn dhuh FEELD
"The scene revealed a green field near the beach."
dhuh SEEN ruh·VEELD uh GREEN FEELD NEER dhuh BEECH
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Treating every L the same.
The L in "field" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
field→FEELD
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "field", the "d" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
field→FEELD
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "field" 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 "FEELD" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "field". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.