How to pronounce joy in American English
JOY
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Americans pronounce joy as JOY (/dʒɔɪ/).
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Why it sounds different
Why "joy" sounds like JOY.
Between "" and "", a brief "" glide bridges the two vowels for smooth flow. This is called the Vowel-to-Vowel Linking, a connected-speech trick that makes phrases flow. It comes out as JOY.
In real conversation
Hear "joy" in the wild.
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"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
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.
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