How to pronounce joy in American English

IPA /dʒɔɪ/ Syllables 1 · joy Stress 1st syllable

JOY

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Americans pronounce joy as JOY (/dʒɔɪ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The major joy was the ginger jam jar" or "The royal boy enjoyed the joy of the toy" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "joy".

1 syllable, 2 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.

oy/ɔɪ/

Start with rounded lips and tongue shifted back. Glide to relaxed lips with the tongue arching forward and up.

In real conversation

Hear "joy" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"I hope this coming year brings you joy, health, and prosperity."

ahy HOHP dhihs KUH·muhng YEER BRIHNGZ yoo JOY HEHLTH and prah·SPAIR·uh·tee

"She expressed her joy by hugging everyone in the room."

shee uhk·SPREHST her JOY bahy HUH·guhng EHV·ree·wuhn uhn dhuh ROOM

"The major joy was the ginger jam jar."

dhuh MAY·jer JOY wuhz dhuh JIHN·jer JAM JAR

"The royal boy enjoyed the joy of the toy."

dhuh ROY·uhl BOY uhn·JOYD dhuh JOY uhv dhuh TOY

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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