m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce midnight in American English
MIHD·nahyt
Start here
Americans pronounce midnight as MIHD-nahyt (/ˈmɪdˌnaɪt/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He submitted the assignment just before the midnight deadline".
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Record yourself saying "midnight" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "midnight".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
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.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "midnight", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
midnight→MIHD·NAHYT
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MIHD — keep everything else short and quick.
mihd·NAHYT→MIHD·NAHYT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "midnight" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "MIHD" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "MIHD-nahyt" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "midnight" 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 "MIHD-nahyt" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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