How to pronounce fry in American English

IPA /fraɪ/ Syllables 1 · frahy Stress 1st syllable

FRAHY

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Americans pronounce fry as FRAHY (/fraɪ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She chopped the vegetables into small, uniform pieces for the stir fry".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "fry".

1 syllable, 3 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.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

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

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"She chopped the vegetables into small, uniform pieces for the stir fry."

shee CHAHPT dhuh VEH·juh·tuh·buhlz IHN·too SMAHL YOO·nuh·form PEE·suhz fer dhuh STUR FRAHY

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Questions

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