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 wide in American English
WAHYD
Start here
Americans pronounce wide as WAHYD (/waɪd/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Why would the wide wolf walk away?" or "The wild west was wide and well known" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "wide".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. 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.
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 "wide" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Apply the wide guide to the entire side."
uh·PLAHY dhuh WAHYD GAHYD tuh dhee uhn·TAHY·er SAHYD
"He crossed the bridge over the wide river."
hee KRAHST dhuh BRIHJ OH·ver dhuh WAHYD RIH·ver
"She has a wide vocal range and can hit very high notes."
shee huhz uh WAHYD VOH·kuhl RAYNJ and kuhn HIHT VEH·ree HAHY NOHTS
"The wild west was wide and well known."
dhuh WAHYLD WEHST wuhz WAHYD and wehl NOHN
"Why would the wide wolf walk away?"
wahy wuud dhuh WAHYD WUULF WAHK uh·WAY
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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 "wide", 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.
wide→WAHYD
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "wide" 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 "WAHYD" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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