th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
How to pronounce thermodynamics in American English
thur·moh·dahy·NA·muhks
Start here
Americans pronounce thermodynamics as thur-moh-dahy-NA-muhks (/ˌθɜrmoʊdaɪˈnæmɪks/). In "thermodynamics", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. So instead of thur·moh·tahy·NA·muhks, you get THUR·moh·dahy·NA·muhks. Stress falls on the fourth syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The experiment demonstrated the principles of thermodynamics".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "thermodynamics".
5 syllables, 12 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ur/ɜr/
Flare your lips and push them away from the face. Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
d/d/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Same as Flap T — a quick tap without stopping airflow.
ahy/aɪ/
Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.
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.
a/æ/
NasalizedThe tongue relaxes down in the back and the corners of the lips relax before the consonant. This adds a schwa-like 'uh' relaxation after the /æ/. Think of it as 'relaxing out of the vowel' — it is no longer a pure /æ/ sound.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
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.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "thermodynamics", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
thur-moh-tahy-NA-muhks→THUR·moh·dahy·NA·muhks
02
Pronouncing the vowel before M/N too pure.
In "thermodynamics", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. The "/æ/" vowel raises and fronts before M or N — tongue pulls up and forward, producing a tense [eə] glide (between /e/ and /ə/). Not a pure /æ/.
thur-moh-dahy-NA-muhks→THUR·moh·dahy·NA·muhks
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the fourth syllable, not the others. Stretch NA — keep everything else short and quick.
THUR·MOH·DAHY·na·MUHKS→THUR·moh·dahy·NA·muhks
04
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the fourth syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
thur·moh·dahy·NA·MUHKS→THUR·moh·dahy·NA·muhks
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "thermodynamics" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the fourth syllable — say "NA" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "thur-moh-dahy-NA-muhks" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "thermodynamics"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "thermodynamics" sounds closer to "thur-moh-dahy-NA-muhks" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the fifth syllable in "thermodynamics" 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 "thur-moh-dahy-NA-muhks" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "thermodynamics"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
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