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 specific in American English
spuh·SIH·fuhk
Start here
Americans pronounce specific as spuh-SIH-fuhk (/spəˈsɪfək/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Could you be more specific about what you need?" or "He improved his agility through specific drills" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "specific" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "specific".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
In real conversation
Hear "specific" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Could you be more specific about what you need?"
kuud yoo bee MOR spuh·SIH·fuhk uh·BOWT wuht yoo NEED
"He improved his agility through specific drills."
hee uhm·PROOVD hihz uh·JIH·luh·tee throo spuh·SIH·fuhk DRIHLZ
"I scheduled specific study times to establish a consistent routine."
ahy SKEH·joold spuh·SIH·fuhk STUH·dee TAHYMZ tuh uh·STA·blihsh uh kuhn·SIH·stuhnt roo·TEEN
"This section describes the specific system process."
dhihs SEHK·shuhn duh·SKRAHYBZ dhuh spuh·SIH·fuhk SIH·stuhm PRAH·suhs
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "specific", the "k" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
specific→spuh·SIH·fuhk
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch SIH — keep everything else short and quick.
SPUH·sih·FUHK→spuh·SIH·fuhk
03
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
SPUH·SIH·fuhk→spuh·SIH·fuhk
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "specific" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "spuh-SIH-fuhk" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "specific" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "spuh-SIH-fuhk" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "specific" 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 "spuh-SIH-fuhk" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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