th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
How to pronounce threadbare in American English
THREHD·bair
Start here
Americans pronounce threadbare as THREHD-bair (/ˈθrɛdˌbɛr/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Her threadbare coat was not warm enough".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "threadbare".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
air/ɛr/
Start with the 'eh' vowel mouth position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
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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 "threadbare", the "b" 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.
threadbare→THREHD·BAIR
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch THREHD — keep everything else short and quick.
threhd·BAIR→THREHD·BAIR
03
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "threadbare" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "THREHD" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "THREHD-bair" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "threadbare"?
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.
Is the American pronunciation of "threadbare" 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 "THREHD-bair" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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