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 timeout in American English
TAHYM·owt
Start here
Americans pronounce timeout as TAHYM-owt (/ˈtaɪmˌaʊt/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The timekeeper stopped the clock during the timeout".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "timeout".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
ow/aʊ/
Start with a dropped jaw and flat tongue. Glide into a relaxed, slightly rounded lip position as the back of the tongue stretches up.
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.
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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 "timeout", the "t" 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.
timeout→TAHYM·OWT
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch TAHYM — keep everything else short and quick.
tahym·OWT→TAHYM·OWT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "timeout" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "TAHYM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "TAHYM-owt" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "timeout" 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 "TAHYM-owt" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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