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 repaved in American English
ree·PAYVD
Start here
Americans pronounce repaved as ree-PAYVD (/riˈpeɪvd/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The long road was recently repaved".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "repaved".
2 syllables, 6 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.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
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.
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "repaved", the "d" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
repaved→ree·PAYVD
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch PAYVD — keep everything else short and quick.
REE·payvd→ree·PAYVD
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "repaved" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "PAYVD" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ree-PAYVD" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "repaved" 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 "ree-PAYVD" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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