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 startup in American English
START·uhp
Start here
Americans pronounce startup as START-uhp (/ˈstɑrɾˌʌp/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The startup raised millions in funding for its innovative platform".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "startup".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
ar/ɑr/
Open wide for the 'ah' vowel. Lift the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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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 "startup", the "p" 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.
startup→START·UHP
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch START — keep everything else short and quick.
start·UHP→START·UHP
03
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
START·UHP→START·UHP
04
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "startup" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "START" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "START-uhp" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "startup"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "startup" sounds closer to "START-uhp" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the second syllable in "startup" 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 "START-uhp" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "startup"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
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