uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce infringement in American English
uhn·FRIHNJ·muhnt
Start here
Americans pronounce infringement as uhn-FRIHNJ-muhnt (/ənˈfrɪndʒmənt/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He was accused of patent infringement by a competitor".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "infringement".
3 syllables, 11 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
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.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
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.
j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
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.
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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
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "infringement", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
infringement→uhn·FRIHNJ·muhnt
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch FRIHNJ — keep everything else short and quick.
UHN·frihnj·MUHNT→uhn·FRIHNJ·muhnt
03
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
UHN·FRIHNJ·muhnt→uhn·FRIHNJ·muhnt
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "infringement" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "FRIHNJ" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhn-FRIHNJ-muhnt" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "infringement" 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 "uhn-FRIHNJ-muhnt" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "infringement" 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 "uhn-FRIHNJ-muhnt" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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