s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
How to pronounce sexy in American English
SEHK·see
Start here
Americans pronounce sexy as SEHK-see (/ˈsɛksi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "sexy".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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 SEHK — keep everything else short and quick.
sehk·SEE→SEHK·see
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "sexy" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "SEHK" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "SEHK-see" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "sexy" 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 "SEHK-see" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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