How to pronounce youth in American English

IPA /juθ/ Syllables 1 · yooth Stress 1st syllable

YOOTH

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Americans pronounce youth as YOOTH (/juθ/).

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Why it sounds different

Why "youth" sounds like YOOTH.

The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. This is called the Consonant-to-Vowel Linking, the way sentences stop sounding like a list and start sounding like speech. It comes out as YOOTH.

In real conversation

Hear "youth" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"He was known for being a bit of a rebel in his youth."

hee wuhz NOHN fer BEE·uhng uh BIHT uhv uh REH·buhl ihn hihz YOOTH

"The youth yelled at the yellow yacht."

dhuh YOOTH YEHLD uht dhuh YEH·loh YAHT

"Youth unemployment is a significant challenge facing many countries."

YOOTH uhn·uhm·PLOY·muhnt ihz uh suhg·NIH·fuh·kuhnt CHA·luhnj FAY·suhng MEH·nee KUHN·treez

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "youth" 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 "YOOTH" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.