How to pronounce sci in American English

IPA /saɪ/ Syllables 1 · sahy Stress 1st syllable

SAHY

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Americans pronounce sci as SAHY (/saɪ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The special effects make the sci-fi world look incredibly realistic".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "sci".

1 syllable, 2 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

s/s/

Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.

ahy/aɪ/

Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.

In real conversation

Hear "sci" in the wild.

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

"The special effects make the sci-fi world look incredibly realistic."

dhuh SPEH·shuhl uh·FEHKTS MAYK dhuh SAHY fahy WURLD LUUK uhn·KREH·duh·blee ree·uh·LIH·stuhk

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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