‘Word’ is one of the first words we learn in English. But it doesn’t mean it’s not challenging to English learners.
There are two reasons for that:
- The letter ‘o’ in the spelling does not represent an O sound but a STIR sound – /ɜːɹ/ as in the word ‘stir’.
- The R sound in English is different from many other R’s in other languages, and it’s also similar to the W sound. And things get even a bit more complicated when we get a W and an R sound so close to each other.
To pronounce the word ‘word’, imagine there’s nothing between the W and the R, and then transition to a D sound:
w’rd [IPA: wɜːɹd]
Watch the video tutorial on how to produce those sounds and practice:
In case you were wondering…
While in most American English dialects, we pronounce the R sounds, in many British dialects we don’t. To pronounce the word ‘word’ in standard British English, you use the same STIR sound but drop the R sound: ‘wuhd’.
Additional resources for your English
Now that you know how to pronounce ‘word’, try ‘world’. Watch this tutorial.
To learn more about American R sound watch this training with FREE Audio Practice sheet.
