p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce percent in American English
per·SEHNT
Start here
Americans pronounce percent as per-SEHNT (/pərˈsɛnt/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The final exam is worth forty percent of the overall grade" or "The agreement aims to reduce carbon emissions by fifty percent" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "percent".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
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.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
In real conversation
Hear "percent" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The agreement aims to reduce carbon emissions by fifty percent."
dhee uh·GREE·muhnt AYMZ tuh ruh·DOOS KAR·buhn uh·MIH·shuhnz bahy FIHF·tee per·SEHNT
"The final exam is worth forty percent of the overall grade."
dhuh FAHY·nuhl uhg·ZAM ihz WURTH FOR·dee per·SEHNT uhv dhee oh·vuh·AHL GRAYD
"The gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of three percent."
dhuh GROHS duh·MEH·stuhk PRAH·duhkt GROO uht uhn AN·yoo·uhl RAYT uhv THREE per·SEHNT
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "percent", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
percent→per·SEHNT
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch SEHNT — keep everything else short and quick.
PER·sehnt→per·SEHNT
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 "percent" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SEHNT" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "per-SEHNT" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "percent"?
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 "percent" 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 "per-SEHNT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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