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.
How to pronounce intersection in American English
ihn·ter·SEHK·shuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce intersection as ihn-ter-SEHK-shuhn (/ˌɪntərˈsɛkʃən/). In "intersection", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound. This is called the Silent T after N, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as IHN·ter·SEHK·shuhn. Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The traffic light was broken, causing confusion at the intersection" or "Take a left at the next intersection, and you'll see it on your right" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "intersection" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "intersection".
4 syllables, 10 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.
t/t/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips 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.
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.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "intersection" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Take a left at the next intersection, and you'll see it on your right."
TAYK uh LEHFT uht dhuh NEHKST ihn·ter·SEHK·shuhn and yool SEE iht ahn yer RAHYT
"The traffic light was broken, causing confusion at the intersection."
dhuh TRA·fuhk LAHYT wuhz BROH·kuhn KAH·zuhng kuhn·FYOO·zhuhn uht dhee ihn·ter·SEHK·shuhn
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
Pronouncing the silent T after N.
In "intersection", the "t" right after N is dropped — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound. /t/ is completely silent — the tongue skips the T stop and moves directly from the N position to the next sound.
intersection→IHN·ter·SEHK·shuhn
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "intersection", the "k" 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.
intersection→IHN·ter·SEHK·shuhn
03
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "intersection", 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.
intersection→IHN·ter·SEHK·shuhn
04
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the third syllable, not the others. Stretch SEHK — keep everything else short and quick.
IHN·TER·sehk·SHUHN→IHN·ter·SEHK·shuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "intersection" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "SEHK" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ihn-ter-SEHK-shuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the fourth syllable in "intersection" 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 "ihn-ter-SEHK-shuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "intersection"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "intersection" 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 "ihn-ter-SEHK-shuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "intersection". 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.