m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce mouthguard in American English
MOWTH·gard
Start here
Americans pronounce mouthguard as MOWTH-gard (/ˈmaʊθˌgɑrd/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The mouthguard protects his teeth during contact sports".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "mouthguard".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ow/aʊ/
Start with a dropped jaw and flat tongue. Glide into a relaxed, slightly rounded lip position as the back of the tongue stretches up.
th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
ar/ɑr/
Open wide for the 'ah' vowel. Lift the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
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.
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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 "mouthguard", the "d" 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.
mouthguard→MOWTH·GARD
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MOWTH — keep everything else short and quick.
mowth·GARD→MOWTH·GARD
03
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "mouthguard" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "MOWTH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "MOWTH-gard" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "mouthguard"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "mouthguard" 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 "MOWTH-gard" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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