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 tummy in American English
TUH·mee
Start here
Americans pronounce tummy as TUH-mee (/ˈtʌmi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "tummy".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch TUH — keep everything else short and quick.
tuh·MEE→TUH·mee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "tummy" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "TUH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "TUH-mee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "tummy" 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 "TUH-mee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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