How to pronounce rays in American English

IPA /reɪz/ Syllables 1 · rayz Stress 1st syllable

RAYZ

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Americans pronounce rays as RAYZ (/reɪz/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The ozone layer protects us from harmful ultraviolet rays".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "rays".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

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.

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.

z/z/

Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.

In real conversation

Hear "rays" in the wild.

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"The ozone layer protects us from harmful ultraviolet rays."

dhee OH·zohn LAY·er pruh·TEHKTS uhs fruhm HARM·fuhl uhl·truh·VAHY·uh·luht RAYZ

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Questions

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