h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce hoop in American English
HOOP
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Americans pronounce hoop as HOOP (/hup/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He threw his new shoes straight through the hoop".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "hoop".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "hoop", the "p" 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.
hoop→HOOP
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "hoop" 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 "HOOP" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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