How to pronounce grain in American English

IPA /greɪn/ Syllables 1 · grayn Stress 1st syllable

GRAYN

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Americans pronounce grain as GRAYN (/greɪn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The silo stores grain to keep it dry and safe" or "He operates a combine harvester to gather the grain" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "grain".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

g/g/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.

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.

ay/eɪ/

Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

In real conversation

Hear "grain" in the wild.

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"He operates a combine harvester to gather the grain."

hee AH·puh·rayts uh kuhm·BAHYN HAR·vuh·ster tuh GA·dher dhuh GRAYN

"The silo stores grain to keep it dry and safe."

dhuh SAHY·loh STORZ GRAYN tuh KEEP iht DRAHY and SAYF

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Questions

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