or/ɔr/
Start with the 'aw' jaw drop and rounded lips. Pull the tongue back and up while keeping the lips rounded for the R.
How to pronounce origami in American English
or·uh·GAH·mee
Start here
Americans pronounce origami as or-uh-GAH-mee (/ˌɔrəˈgɑmi/). Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I practice origami to relax and create beautiful paper shapes".
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "origami" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "origami".
4 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
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 third syllable, not the others. Stretch GAH — keep everything else short and quick.
OR·UH·gah·MEE→OR·uh·GAH·mee
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
or·UH·GAH·mee→OR·uh·GAH·mee
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 "origami" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "GAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "or-uh-GAH-mee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "origami" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "or-uh-GAH-mee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "origami"?
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 "origami" 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 "or-uh-GAH-mee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "origami". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.