sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
How to pronounce shaped in American English
SHAYPT
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Americans pronounce shaped as SHAYPT (/ʃeɪpt/). It's 4 sounds in 1 syllable. The vowel glides through two positions, not one fixed shape — keep both halves audible.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "shaped".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
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Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "shaped" 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 "SHAYPT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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