m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce memorize in American English
MEH·muh·rahyz
Start here
Americans pronounce memorize as MEH-muh-rahyz (/ˈmɛməˌraɪz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He uses flashcards to memorize new vocabulary words every day" or "She created flashcards to help memorize vocabulary for the exam" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "memorize".
3 syllables, 7 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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
r/r/
SyllabicThe schwa before R disappears — R becomes the vowel of the syllable. This is the 'er' sound without a distinct vowel before it.
ahy/aɪ/
Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "memorize" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He uses flashcards to memorize new vocabulary words every day."
hee YOO·zuhz FLASH·kardz tuh MEH·muh·rahyz noo voh·KA·byuh·leh·ree WURDZ EHV·ree DAY
"She created flashcards to help memorize vocabulary for the exam."
shee kree·AY·duhd FLASH·kardz tuh HEHLP MEH·muh·rahyz voh·KA·byuh·leh·ree fer dhee uhg·ZAM
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch MEH — keep everything else short and quick.
meh·MUH·RAHYZ→MEH·muh·RAHYZ
02
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·MUH·rahyz→MEH·muh·RAHYZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "memorize" 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-muh-rahyz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "memorize" 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-muh-rahyz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "memorize" 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-muh-rahyz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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