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 ruby in American English
ROO·bee
Start here
Americans pronounce ruby as ROO-bee (/ˈrubi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Ruby burned the rubber on the bike brake".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "ruby".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
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 ROO — keep everything else short and quick.
roo·BEE→ROO·bee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "ruby" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "ROO" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ROO-bee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "ruby" 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 "ROO-bee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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