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.
How to pronounce nearby in American English
neer·BAHY
Start here
Americans pronounce nearby as neer-BAHY (/ˌnɪrˈbaɪ/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She has fourteen cousins living nearby".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "nearby".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eer/ɪr/
Start with the high 'ih' position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips slightly.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
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.
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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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch BAHY — keep everything else short and quick.
NEER·bahy→NEER·BAHY
02
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 "nearby" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "BAHY" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "neer-BAHY" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "nearby"?
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 "nearby" 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 "neer-BAHY" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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