How to pronounce swim in American English

IPA /swɪm/ Syllables 1 · swihm Stress 1st syllable

SWIHM

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Americans pronounce swim as SWIHM (/swɪm/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She forgot her swim cap and goggles at home".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "swim".

1 syllable, 4 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.

w/w/

Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.

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.

m/m/

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

In real conversation

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"She forgot her swim cap and goggles at home."

shee fer·GAHT her SWIHM KAP and GAH·guhlz uht HOHM

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Questions

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