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.
How to pronounce lgbtq in American English
ehl·jee·bee·tee·KYOO
Start here
Americans pronounce lgbtq as ehl-jee-bee-tee-KYOO (/ˌɛlˌdʒiˌbiˌɾiˈkju/). Stress falls on the fifth syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "lgbtq".
5 syllables, 10 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
yoo/ju/
Start with the tongue mid-front raised high, almost touching the roof of the mouth (but not touching). Glide into a tight lip circle as the tongue back lifts.
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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 fifth syllable, not the others. Stretch KYOO — keep everything else short and quick.
EHL·JEE·BEE·TEE·kyoo→EHL·JEE·BEE·TEE·KYOO
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "lgbtq" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the fifth syllable — say "KYOO" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ehl-jee-bee-tee-KYOO" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "lgbtq"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "lgbtq" sounds closer to "ehl-jee-bee-tee-KYOO" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Is the American pronunciation of "lgbtq" 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 "ehl-jee-bee-tee-KYOO" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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