How to pronounce wax in American English
WAKS
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Americans pronounce wax as WAKS (/wæks/).
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Why it sounds different
Why "wax" sounds like WAKS.
The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. This is called the Consonant-to-Vowel Linking, what turns word-by-word reading into actual conversation. It comes out as WAKS.
In real conversation
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Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "wax" 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 "WAKS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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