h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce heatwave in American English
HEET·wayv
Start here
Americans pronounce heatwave as HEET-wayv (/ˈhitˌweɪv/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The heatwave made it almost impossible to go outside comfortably".
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "heatwave" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "heatwave".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then 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.
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.
w/w/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.
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.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "heatwave", the "t" 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.
heatwave→HEET·WAYV
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch HEET — keep everything else short and quick.
heet·WAYV→HEET·WAYV
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "heatwave" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "HEET" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "HEET-wayv" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "heatwave" 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 "HEET-wayv" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "heatwave". 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.