How to pronounce rough in American English

IPA /rʌf/ Syllables 1 · ruhf Stress 1st syllable

RUHF

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Americans pronounce rough as RUHF (/rʌf/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Wrap the rough rope around the rust rack" or "The rough cough was enough to frighten Fred" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "rough".

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.

uh/ʌ/

Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.

f/f/

Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "rough" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"He submitted the rough draft for peer review before finalizing."

hee suhb·MIH·duhd dhuh RUHF DRAFT fer PEER ree·VYOO buh·FOR FAHY·nuh·lahy·zuhng

"She sketched a rough outline before adding detailed shading."

shee SKEHCHT uh RUHF OWT·lahyn buh·FOR A·duhng DEE·tayld SHAY·duhng

"The rough cough was enough to frighten Fred."

dhuh RUHF KAHF wuhz uh·NUHF tuh FRAHY·tuhn FREHD

"Wrap the rough rope around the rust rack."

RAP dhuh RUHF ROHP uh·ROWND dhuh RUHST RAK

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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