How To Pronounce Bug

The word

only has one syllable.

The first sound in the word

is , a voiced bilabial stop. This sound is created by having your vocal cords vibrate while bringing your two lips together in order to completely stop the airflow.

The second sound in the word

is vowel , which can be described as a low-mid back unrounded vowel. This vowel is made with the tongue height between that of a low vowel and a mid-vowel, with the body of the tongue held towards the back of the mouth (not central or forward), and with the lips being unrounded.

This vowel is often mispronounced by non-native English speakers. The most common mispronunciation is pronouncing this sound so that it sounds more like . The vowel is a low back unrounded lax vowel, while is a mid-low back unrounded lax vowel. So while both vowels are back vowels, pronounced with the tongue body in the back of the mouth, ithout rounding the lips, and without a lot of tension, there are some differences. The vowel is a low-mid vowel, while is a low vowel, so is said with a somewhat higher tongue height than . Additionally, although in each case the lips are unrounded, American English speakers pronounce ah with lips that are spread much farther apart than when they say the wedge.

The last sound in the word bug in , a voiced velar stop. This sound is made by vibrating the vocal cords while raising the back of tongue tongue up to the velum in order to completely stop the airflow.