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 window in American English
WIHN·doh
Start here
Americans pronounce window as WIHN-doh (/ˈwɪndoʊ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Open the window" or "Wash the window" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "window".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front 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.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
In real conversation
Hear "window" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Could you roll down the car window, please?"
kuud yoo ROHL DOWN dhuh KAR WIHN·doh PLEEZ
"Do you prefer the window seat or the aisle seat?"
doo yoo pruh·FUR dhuh WIHN·doh SEET or dhee AHYL SEET
"He was waving from the window."
hee wuhz WAY·vuhng fruhm dhuh WIHN·doh
"I knew he threw the ball right through the new window."
ahy NOO hee THROO dhuh BAHL RAHYT throo dhuh NOO WIHN·doh
"I measured the window twice before cutting the new curtain rod."
ahy MEH·zherd dhuh WIHN·doh TWAHYS buh·FOR KUH·duhng dhuh noo KUR·tuhn RAHD
"I need to close the back window."
ahy NEED tuh KLOHZ dhuh BAK WIHN·doh
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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 WIHN — keep everything else short and quick.
wihn·DOH→WIHN·doh
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "window" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "WIHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "WIHN-doh" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "window" 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 "WIHN-doh" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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