p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce permit in American English
per·MIHT
Start here
Americans pronounce permit as per-MIHT (/pərˈmɪt/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Do you have a valid parking permit?" or "Please pay the parking permit price promptly" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "permit".
2 syllables, 5 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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
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 "permit" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Do you have a valid parking permit?"
doo yoo hav uh VA·luhd PAR·kuhng PUR·muht
"Please pay the parking permit price promptly."
PLEEZ PAY dhuh PAR·kuhng PUR·muht PRAHYS PRAHMPT·lee
"She needed to obtain a building permit from the city."
shee NEE·duhd tuh uhb·TAYN uh BIHL·duhng PUR·muht fruhm dhuh SIH·dee
"The city won't permit construction in this area."
dhuh SIH·dee WOHNT per·MIHT kuhn·STRUHK·shuhn ihn dhihs AIR·ee·uh
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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 "permit", 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.
permit→per·MIHT
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch MIHT — keep everything else short and quick.
PER·miht→per·MIHT
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 "permit" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "MIHT" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "per-MIHT" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "permit"?
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 "permit" 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-MIHT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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