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 records in American English
REH·kerdz
Start here
Americans pronounce records as REH-kerdz (/ˈrɛkərdz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He collects rare and old records" or "Let's record this meeting for our records" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "records".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "records" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He collects rare and old records."
hee kuh·LEHKTS RAIR and OHLD REH·kerdz
"He collects vinyl records of classic rock albums."
hee kuh·LEHKTS VAHY·nuhl REH·kerdz uhv KLA·suhk RAHK AL·buhmz
"Let's record this meeting for our records."
LEHTS ruh·KORD dhihs MEE·duhng fer owr REH·kerdz
"She collects vinyl records and hunts for rare albums."
shee kuh·LEHKTS VAHY·nuhl REH·kerdz and HUHNTS fer RAIR AL·buhmz
"The database contained millions of records for our analysis."
dhuh DAY·duh·bays kuhn·TAYND MIHL·yuhnz uhv REH·kerdz fer ar uh·NA·luh·suhs
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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 REH — keep everything else short and quick.
reh·KERDZ→REH·kerdz
02
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "records" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "REH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "REH-kerdz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "records"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "records" 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 "REH-kerdz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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