How to pronounce strong in American English

IPA /strɔŋ/ Syllables 1 · strahng Stress 1st syllable

STRAHNG

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Americans pronounce strong as STRAHNG (/strɔŋ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The King is strong" or "He has a strong English accent" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "strong".

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.

ah/ɑ/

Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.

ng/ŋ/

Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.

In real conversation

Hear "strong" in the wild.

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

"A black hole has a gravitational pull so strong that light cannot escape."

uh BLAK HOHL huhz uh gra·vuh·TAY·shuh·nuhl PUUL SOH STRAHNG dhuht LAHYT KA·naht uh·SKAYP

"Both of them are healthy and strong."

BOHTH uhv dhuhm er HEHL·thee and STRAHNG

"Bring the strong string to hang the swing."

BRIHNG dhuh STRAHNG STRIHNG tuh HANG dhuh SWIHNG

"He has a strong English accent."

hee huhz uh STRAHNG IHNG·gluhsh AK·sehnt

"I honestly thought the coffee was too strong."

ahy AH·nuhst·lee THAHT dhuh KAH·fee wuhz TOO STRAHNG

"The governor signed the executive order despite strong opposition."

dhuh GUH·ver·ner SAHYND dhee uhg·ZEH·kyuh·tuhv OR·der duh·SPAHYT STRAHNG ah·puh·ZIH·shuhn

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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