How to pronounce threat in American English

IPA /θrɛt/ Syllables 1 · threht Stress 1st syllable

THREHT

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Americans pronounce threat as THREHT (/θrɛt/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The threat of rain is certainly real" or "The federal deficit is a threat to the general economy" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "threat".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

th/θ/

Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.

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.

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.

In real conversation

Hear "threat" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"The federal deficit is a threat to the general economy."

dhuh FEH·der·uhl DEH·fuh·suht ihz uh THREHT tuh dhuh JEH·ner·uhl uh·KAH·nuh·mee

"The threat of rain is certainly real."

dhuh THREHT uhv RAYN ihz SUR·tuhn·lee REE·uhl

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Questions

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Is the American pronunciation of "threat" 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 "THREHT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.