h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce hypothesis in American English
hahy·PAH·thuh·suhs
Start here
Americans pronounce hypothesis as hahy-PAH-thuh-suhs (/haɪˈpɑθəsəs/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Our hypothesis was supported by the empirical data we collected" or "The hypothesis was tested through a series of rigorous experiments" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "hypothesis".
4 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
In real conversation
Hear "hypothesis" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Our hypothesis was supported by the empirical data we collected."
OW·er hahy·PAH·thuh·suhs wuhz suh·POR·tuhd bahy dhee ehm·PEER·uh·kuhl DAY·duh wee kuh·LEHK·tuhd
"The hypothesis was tested through a series of rigorous experiments."
dhuh hahy·PAH·thuh·suhs wuhz TEH·stuhd throo uh SEER·eez uhv RIH·ger·uhs uhk·SPAIR·uh·muhnts
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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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch PAH — keep everything else short and quick.
HAHY·pah·THUH·SUHS→hahy·PAH·thuh·suhs
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the second syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
hahy·PAH·THUH·suhs→hahy·PAH·thuh·suhs
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "hypothesis" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "PAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "hahy-PAH-thuh-suhs" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "hypothesis" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "hahy-PAH-thuh-suhs" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "hypothesis" 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 "hahy-PAH-thuh-suhs" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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