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 terrific in American English
tuh·RIH·fuhk
Start here
Americans pronounce terrific as tuh-RIH-fuhk (/təˈrɪfək/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "terrific".
3 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
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.
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.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch RIH — keep everything else short and quick.
TUH·rih·FUHK→tuh·RIH·fuhk
02
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
TUH·RIH·fuhk→tuh·RIH·fuhk
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "terrific" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "RIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "tuh-RIH-fuhk" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "terrific" 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 "tuh-RIH-fuhk" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "terrific" 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 "tuh-RIH-fuhk" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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