h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce heavy in American English
HEH·vee
Start here
Americans pronounce heavy as HEH-vee (/ˈhɛvi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Somehow, he held the heavy handle high" or "He hid the heavy hammer behind the hedge" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "heavy".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
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.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "heavy" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Beck hurt his back while riding a heavy bike."
BEHK HURT hihz BAK WAHYL RAHY·duhng uh HEH·vee BAHYK
"He hid the heavy hammer behind the hedge."
hee HIHD dhuh HEH·vee HA·mer buh·HAHYND dhuh HEHJ
"He needs help to hold the heavy gold cup."
hee NEEDZ HEHLP tuh HOHLD dhuh HEH·vee GOHLD KUHP
"I bet the heavy metal section is incredibly deafening."
ahy BEHT dhuh HEH·vee MEH·duhl SEHK·shuhn ihz uhn·KREH·duh·blee DEH·fuh·nuhng
"Never leave the heavy stove in the river."
NEH·ver LEEV dhuh HEH·vee STOHV uhn dhuh RIH·ver
"The barbell is used for heavy weightlifting exercises."
dhuh BAR·behl ihz YOOZD fer HEH·vee WAYT·lihf·tuhng EHK·ser·sahy·zuhz
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch HEH — keep everything else short and quick.
heh·VEE→HEH·vee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "heavy" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "HEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "HEH-vee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "heavy" 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 "HEH-vee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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