m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce meadow in American English
MEH·doh
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Americans pronounce meadow as MEH-doh (/ˈmɛdoʊ/). In "meadow", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. So instead of MEH·toh, you get MEH·doh. Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He photographed the deer grazing in the meadow".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "meadow".
2 syllables, 4 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.
d/d/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Same as Flap T — a quick tap without stopping airflow.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "meadow", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
MEH-toh→MEH·doh
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MEH — keep everything else short and quick.
meh·DOH→MEH·doh
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "meadow" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "MEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "MEH-doh" 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 "meadow"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "meadow" sounds closer to "MEH-doh" 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 "meadow" 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 "MEH-doh" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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