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/).

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Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

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72% Noticeable accent

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

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

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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.

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