How to pronounce raw in American English

IPA /rɑ/ Syllables 1 · rah Stress 1st syllable

RAH

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Americans pronounce raw as RAH (/rɑ/).

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Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

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72% Noticeable accent

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"The acoustic version of the song sounds very intimate and raw."

dhee uh·KOO·stuhk VUR·zhuhn uhv dhuh SAHNG SOWNDZ VEH·ree IHN·tuh·muht and RAH

Questions

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Is the American pronunciation of "raw" 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 "RAH" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.

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