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 world in American English
WURLD
Start here
Americans pronounce world as WURLD (/wɜrld/). The L in "world" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. This is called the Dark L vs Light L, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as WURLD. You'll hear it in sentences like "It's a small world after all" or "Turn the curve and observe the world" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "world".
1 syllable, 4 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.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
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 "world" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Do not walk away from your work in this difficult world."
doo NAHT WAHK uh·WAY fruhm yor WURK ihn dhihs DIH·fuh·kuhlt WURLD
"He collects vintage stamps from all over the world."
hee kuh·LEHKTS VIHN·tuhj STAMPS fruhm AHL OH·ver dhuh WURLD
"It is such a small world running into you here of all places."
iht ihz suhch uh SMAHL WURLD RUH·nuhng IHN·too yoo HEER uhv AHL PLAY·suhz
"It's a small world after all."
ihts uh SMAHL WURLD AF·ter AHL
"She supports organizations that plant trees around the world."
shee suh·PORTS or·guh·nuh·ZAY·shuhnz dhuht PLANT TREEZ uh·ROWND dhuh WURLD
"She went scuba diving to see the underwater world."
shee wehnt SKOO·buh DAHY·vuhng tuh SEE dhee uhn·der·WAH·der 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
Treating every L the same.
The L in "world" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
world→WURLD
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "world", 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.
world→WURLD
03
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 "world"?
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 "world" 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 "WURLD" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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