th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
How to pronounce thanksgiving in American English
thangks·GIH·vuhng
Start here
Americans pronounce thanksgiving as thangks-GIH-vuhng (/ˌθæŋksˈɡɪvəŋ/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "thanksgiving" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "thanksgiving".
3 syllables, 10 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
a/æ/
Nasalized-ngBefore NG, the vowel changes to sound more like the AY (/eɪ/) diphthong. The middle part of the tongue lifts toward the roof of the mouth, then the front part arches up.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
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.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
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 GIH — keep everything else short and quick.
THANGKS·gih·VUHNG→THANGKS·GIH·vuhng
02
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.
thangks·GIH·VUHNG→THANGKS·GIH·vuhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "thanksgiving" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "GIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "thangks-GIH-vuhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "thanksgiving" 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 "thangks-GIH-vuhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "thanksgiving" 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 "thangks-GIH-vuhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "thanksgiving". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.