oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
How to pronounce osha in American English
OH·shuh
Start here
Americans pronounce osha as OH-shuh (/ˈoʊʃə/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "OSHA regulations require certain safety measures in manufacturing facilities".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "osha".
2 syllables, 3 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
In real conversation
Hear "osha" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
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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 first syllable, not the others. Stretch OH — keep everything else short and quick.
oh·SHUH→OH·shuh
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.
OH·SHUH→OH·shuh
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "osha" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "OH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "OH-shuh" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "osha" 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 "OH-shuh" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "osha" 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 "OH-shuh" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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