m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce medication in American English
meh·duh·KAY·shuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce medication as meh-duh-KAY-shuhn (/ˌmɛdəˈkeɪʃən/). In "medication", 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 hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. So instead of meh·tuh·KAY·shuhn, you get MEH·duh·KAY·shuhn. Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He experienced some side effects from the new medication" or "The doctor wrote a prescription for the allergy medication" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "medication".
4 syllables, 9 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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
In real conversation
Hear "medication" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He experienced some side effects from the new medication."
hee uhk·SPEER·ee·uhnst suhm SAHYD uh·FEHKTS fruhm dhuh noo meh·duh·KAY·shuhn
"She explained the side effects of the medication to the patient."
shee uhk·SPLAYND dhuh SAHYD uh·FEHKTS uhv dhuh meh·duh·KAY·shuhn tuh dhuh PAY·shuhnt
"The doctor wrote a prescription for the allergy medication."
dhuh DAHK·ter ROHT uh pruh·SKRIHP·shuhn fer dhee A·ler·jee meh·duh·KAY·shuhn
"The pharmacist explained how to take the prescription medication."
dhuh FAR·muh·suhst uhk·SPLAYND HOW tuh TAYK dhuh pruh·SKRIHP·shuhn meh·duh·KAY·shuhn
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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 "medication", 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-tuh-KAY-shuhn→MEH·duh·KAY·shuhn
02
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "medication", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
medication→MEH·duh·KAY·shuhn
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the third syllable, not the others. Stretch KAY — keep everything else short and quick.
MEH·DUH·kay·SHUHN→MEH·duh·KAY·shuhn
04
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
meh·DUH·KAY·shuhn→MEH·duh·KAY·shuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "medication" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "KAY" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "meh-duh-KAY-shuhn" 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 "medication"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "medication" sounds closer to "meh-duh-KAY-shuhn" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the second syllable in "medication" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "meh-duh-KAY-shuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "medication" 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-duh-KAY-shuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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