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.
How to pronounce rainy in American English
RAY·nee
Start here
Americans pronounce rainy as RAY-nee (/ˈreɪni/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She prefers sunny days over cloudy or rainy weather".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "rainy".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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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 RAY — keep everything else short and quick.
ray·NEE→RAY·nee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "rainy" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "RAY" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "RAY-nee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "rainy" 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 "RAY-nee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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