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 word in American English
WURD
Start here
Americans pronounce word as WURD (/wɜrd/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I heard the word" or "Learn the verb and curl the word" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "word".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ur/ɜr/
Flare your lips and push them away from the face. Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.
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 "word" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Every word in this work document is about the physical world."
EHV·ree WURD ihn dhihs WURK DAH·kyuh·muhnt ihz uh·BOWT dhuh FIH·zuh·kuhl WURLD
"I heard the word."
ahy HURD dhuh WURD
"I need to look up a word in the dictionary."
ahy NEED tuh LUUK UHP uh WURD ihn dhuh DIHK·shuh·nair·ee
"The court reporter transcribed every word said during the trial."
dhuh KORT ruh·POR·der tran·SKRAHYBD EHV·ree WURD sehd DUUR·uhng dhuh TRAHY·uhl
"The word count should not exceed three thousand words total."
dhuh WURD KOWNT shuud NAHT uhk·SEED THREE THOW·zuhnd WURDZ TOH·duhl
"I will walk to work and say a word to the world."
ahy wihl WAHK tuh WURK uhnd SAY uh WURD tuh dhuh WURLD
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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 "word", 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.
word→WURD
02
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How do I pronounce the R in "word"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "word" 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 "WURD" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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