How to pronounce jack in American English

IPA /dʒæk/ Syllables 1 · jak Stress 1st syllable

JAK

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Americans pronounce jack as JAK (/dʒæk/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Jack has a job".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "jack".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

j/dʒ/

Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.

a/æ/

Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.

k/k/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.

In real conversation

Hear "jack" in the wild.

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"Jack has a job."

JAK huhz uh JAHB

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "jack" 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 "JAK" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.