j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce jellyfish in American English
JEH·lee·fihsh
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Americans pronounce jellyfish as JEH-lee-fihsh (/ˈdʒɛlifɪʃ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The jellyfish drifted gracefully through the water".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "jellyfish".
3 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
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.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch JEH — keep everything else short and quick.
jeh·LEE·FIHSH→JEH·lee·fihsh
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "jellyfish" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "JEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "JEH-lee-fihsh" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "jellyfish" 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 "JEH-lee-fihsh" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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