How to pronounce nurse in American English
NURS
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Americans pronounce nurse as NURS (/nɜrs/). The R is one continuous sound with the vowel — the tongue curls back rather than rolling.
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"The nurse burned the dirty shirt first."
dhuh NURS BURND dhuh DUR·dee SHURT FURST
"The nurse shared some important information."
dhuh NURS SHAIRD suhm uhm·POR·tuhnt ihn·fer·MAY·shuhn
"The nurse took my blood pressure and recorded my temperature."
dhuh NURS TUUK mahy BLUHD PREH·sher and ruh·KOR·duhd mahy TEHM·pruh·cher
"The nurse works first."
dhuh NURS WURKS FURST
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
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 do I pronounce the R in "nurse"?
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 "nurse" 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 "NURS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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