w/w/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.
How to pronounce weekend in American English
WEE·kehnd
Start here
Americans pronounce weekend as WEE-kehnd (/ˈwikˌɛnd/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "What did you do over the weekend?" or "What's the plan for this weekend?" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "weekend".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
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.
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.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
In real conversation
Hear "weekend" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Are you available to meet for coffee sometime this weekend?"
ar yoo uh·VAY·luh·buhl tuh MEET fer KAH·fee SUHM·tahym dhihs WEE·kehnd
"Do you have any plans for the weekend?"
doo yoo HAV EH·nee PLANZ fer dhuh WEE·kehnd
"He mowed the lawn and trimmed the hedges over the weekend."
hee MOHD dhuh LAHN and TRIHMD dhuh HEH·juhz OH·ver dhuh WEE·kehnd
"He rented a car for the weekend to visit his family."
hee REHN·tuhd uh KAR fer dhuh WEE·kehnd tuh VIH·zuht hihz FAM·lee
"How was your weekend by the way? Did you do anything fun?"
HOW wuhz yer WEE·kehnd bahy dhuh WAY dihd yuh doo EH·nee·thuhng FUHN
"I need to install new shelves in the garage this weekend."
ahy NEED tuh uhn·STAHL noo SHEHLVZ ihn dhuh guh·RAHZH dhihs WEE·kehnd
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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 "weekend", the "d" 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.
weekend→WEE·KEHND
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch WEE — keep everything else short and quick.
wee·KEHND→WEE·KEHND
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "weekend" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "WEE" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "WEE-kehnd" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "weekend" 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 "WEE-kehnd" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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