v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
How to pronounce vaccines in American English
VAK·seenz
Start here
Americans pronounce vaccines as VAK-seenz (/ˈvækˌsinz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Vaccines have been instrumental in eradicating many deadly diseases".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "vaccines".
2 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
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.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
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.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "vaccines" in the wild.
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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 VAK — keep everything else short and quick.
vak·SEENZ→VAK·SEENZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "vaccines" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "VAK" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "VAK-seenz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "vaccines" 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 "VAK-seenz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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