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.
How to pronounce technology in American English
tehk·NAH·luh·jee
Start here
Americans pronounce technology as tehk-NAH-luh-jee (/tɛkˈnɑlədʒi/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Modern technology has changed our daily lives" or "Cloning technology raises significant ethical questions" — more examples below.
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Record yourself saying "technology" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "technology".
4 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
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.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
j/dʒ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "technology" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Blockchain technology is being explored for various applications."
BLAHK·chayn tehk·NAH·luh·jee ihz BEE·uhng uhk·SPLORD fer VAIR·ee·uhs a·pluh·KAY·shuhnz
"Carbon capture technology is being developed as a potential solution."
KAR·buhn KAP·cher tehk·NAH·luh·jee ihz BEE·uhng duh·VEH·luhpt uhz uh puh·TEHN·shuhl suh·LOO·shuhn
"Cloning technology raises significant ethical questions."
KLOH·nuhng tehk·NAH·luh·jee RAY·zuhz suhg·NIH·fuh·kuhnt EH·thuh·kuhl KWEHS·chuhnz
"Foreign investment in the technology sector has increased dramatically."
FOR·uhn ihn·VEHST·muhnt ihn dhuh tehk·NAH·luh·jee SEHK·ter huhz uhn·KREEST druh·MA·duh·klee
"Modern technology has changed our daily lives."
MAH·dern tehk·NAH·luh·jee huhz CHAYNJD ar DAY·lee LAHYVZ
"The classroom was equipped with modern technology for presentations."
dhuh KLAS·room wuhz uh·KWIHPT wihth MAH·dern tehk·NAH·luh·jee fer preh·zuhn·TAY·shuhnz
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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 "technology", the "k" 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.
technology→tehk·NAH·luh·jee
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch NAH — keep everything else short and quick.
TEHK·nah·LUH·JEE→tehk·NAH·luh·jee
03
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the second syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
tehk·NAH·LUH·jee→tehk·NAH·luh·jee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "technology" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "NAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "tehk-NAH-luh-jee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "technology" 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 "tehk-NAH-luh-jee" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "technology" 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 "tehk-NAH-luh-jee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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