How to pronounce smooth in American English

IPA /smuð/ Syllables 1 · smoodh Stress 1st syllable

SMOODH

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Americans pronounce smooth as SMOODH (/smuð/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Smooth leather" or "Choose a smooth route to the moon viewing" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "smooth".

1 syllable, 4 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.

m/m/

Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.

oo/u/

Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.

dh/ð/

Place your tongue tip between or behind your front teeth, turn your vocal cords on, and push air through the gap.

In real conversation

Hear "smooth" in the wild.

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

"Choose a smooth route to the moon viewing."

CHOOZ uh SMOODH ROOT tuh dhuh MOON VYOO·uhng

"I whisked the eggs and milk together until they were smooth."

ahy WIHSKT dhee EHGZ and MIHLK tuh·GEH·dher uhn·TIHL dhay wer SMOODH

"Smooth leather."

SMOODH LEH·dher

"They breathed the smooth air together there."

dhay BREEDHD dhuh SMOODH AIR tuh·GEH·dher DHAIR

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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