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 rosemary in American English
ROHZ·mair·ee
Start here
Americans pronounce rosemary as ROHZ-mair-ee (/ˈroʊzˌmɛri/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He seasoned the steak with salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "rosemary".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
air/ɛr/
Start with the 'eh' vowel mouth position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
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 ROHZ — keep everything else short and quick.
rohz·MAIR·EE→ROHZ·MAIR·ee
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 "rosemary" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "ROHZ" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ROHZ-mair-ee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "rosemary"?
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 "rosemary" 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 "ROHZ-mair-ee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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