How to pronounce stream in American English

IPA /strim/ Syllables 1 · streem Stress 1st syllable

STREEM

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Americans pronounce stream as STREEM (/strim/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The moss covered the rocks near the stream".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "stream".

1 syllable, 5 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.

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.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

ee/i/

Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.

m/m/

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

In real conversation

Hear "stream" in the wild.

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

"The moss covered the rocks near the stream."

dhuh MAHS KUH·verd dhuh RAHKS NEER dhuh STREEM

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Questions

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