How to pronounce flu in American English

IPA /flu/ Syllables 1 · floo Stress 1st syllable

FLOO

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Americans pronounce flu as FLOO (/flu/).

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Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

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72% Noticeable accent

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"I always get a flu shot before the winter season begins."

ahy AHL·wayz GEHT uh FLOO SHAHT buh·FOR dhuh WIHN·ter SEE·zuhn buh·GIHNZ

Questions

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

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