p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce paraphrased in American English
PAIR·uh·frayzd
Start here
Americans pronounce paraphrased as PAIR-uh-frayzd (/ˈpɛrəˌfreɪzd/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She paraphrased the source to avoid direct quotation overuse".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "paraphrased".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
air/ɛr/
Start with the 'eh' vowel mouth position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
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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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 PAIR — keep everything else short and quick.
pair·UH·FRAYZD→PAIR·uh·FRAYZD
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.
PAIR·UH·frayzd→PAIR·uh·FRAYZD
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 "paraphrased" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "PAIR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "PAIR-uh-frayzd" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "paraphrased" 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 "PAIR-uh-frayzd" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "paraphrased"?
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 "paraphrased" 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 "PAIR-uh-frayzd" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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