How to pronounce nod in American English

IPA /nɑd/ Syllables 1 · nahd Stress 1st syllable

NAHD

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Americans pronounce nod as NAHD (/nɑd/). It's 3 sounds in 1 syllable. Ends in a crisp stop consonant — in casual speech the puff after it often disappears.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "nod".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

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.

ah/ɑ/

Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.

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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Questions

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Is the American pronunciation of "nod" 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 "NAHD" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.