How to pronounce south in American English

IPA /saʊθ/ Syllables 1 · sowth Stress 1st syllable

SOWTH

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Americans pronounce south as SOWTH (/saʊθ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "North and South" or "Arthur had a toothache in his mouth south" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "south".

1 syllable, 3 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.

ow/aʊ/

Start with a dropped jaw and flat tongue. Glide into a relaxed, slightly rounded lip position as the back of the tongue stretches up.

th/θ/

Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "south" in the wild.

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

"Arthur had a toothache in his mouth south."

AR·ther had uh TOOTH·ayk ihn hihz MOWTH SOWTH

"Birds migrate south for the winter to find warmer weather."

BURDZ MAHY·grayt SOWTH fer dhuh WIHN·ter tuh FAHYND WOR·mer WEH·dher

"North and South."

NORTH and SOWTH

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Questions

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