p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce pm in American English
pee·EHM
Start here
Americans pronounce pm as pee-EHM (/ˌpiˈɛm/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "We need to check in at the hotel before three p.m".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "pm".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
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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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch EHM — keep everything else short and quick.
PEE·ehm→PEE·EHM
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "pm" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "EHM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "pee-EHM" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "pm" 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 "pee-EHM" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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