How to pronounce fights in American English

IPA /faɪts/ Syllables 1 · fahyts Stress 1st syllable
FAHYTS
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Americans pronounce fights as FAHYTS (/faɪts/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She fights for the rights of immigrants and refugees" or "He is studying immunology to understand how the body fights infection" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "fights".

1 syllable, 4 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.

Mouth position for /f/ as in FAN
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.

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.

Mouth position for /t/ as in TEN
s/s/

Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.

Mouth position for /s/ as in SUN
In real conversation

Hear "fights" in the wild.

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

"He is studying immunology to understand how the body fights infection."
hee ihz STUH·dee·uhng ihm·yuh·NAH·luh·jee tuh uhn·der·STAND HOW dhuh BAH·dee FAHYTS uhn·FEHK·shuhn
"She fights for the rights of immigrants and refugees."
shee FAHYTS fer dhuh RAHYTS uhv IH·muh·gruhnts and REH·fyoo·JEEZ
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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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

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