p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce pick in American English
PIHK
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Americans pronounce pick as PIHK (/pɪk/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Pick the pen" or "I need to pick up a few items" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "pick".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
In real conversation
Hear "pick" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I need to pick up a few items."
ahy NEED tuh PIHK UHP uh FYOO AHY·duhmz
"I need to pick up my dry cleaning this afternoon."
ahy NEED tuh PIHK UHP mahy DRAHY KLEE·nuhng dhihs af·ter·NOON
"I need to pick up my sister at three."
ahy NEED tuh PIHK UHP mahy SIH·ster uht THREE
"Pick the pack of cards from the back pocket."
PIHK dhuh PAK uhv KARDZ fruhm dhuh BAK PAH·kuht
"Pick the pen."
PIHK dhuh PEHN
"The elephant uses its trunk to pick up objects and drink water."
dhee EH·luh·fuhnt YOO·zuhz ihts TRUHNGK tuh PIHK UHP AHB·jehkts and DRIHNGK WAH·der
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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 "pick", the "k" 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.
pick→PIHK
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "pick" 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 "PIHK" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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