{"id":149139,"date":"2024-01-31T00:32:59","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T05:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/english-diphthong\/"},"modified":"2025-01-16T06:10:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T11:10:16","slug":"english-diphthong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/english-diphthong\/","title":{"rendered":"8 American English Diphthongs (Plus Examples)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you like to play on the slide?\u00a0<\/em>This question contains three words with English diphthongs that make it feel like your mouth is sliding from one vowel sound to another: like<\/strong>, play<\/strong> and slide<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Below is a quick reference chart with the eight American English diphthongs, their common letter combinations and some example words. After that, we’ll give a full explanation of diphthongs, more examples, plus audio and tips for mastering diphthongs.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Diphthong<\/th>Common Letter Combinations<\/th>Example Words<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\/a\u028a\/<\/td>ow, ou<\/td>down, mouth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/a\u026a\/<\/td>igh, i, y<\/td>like, why<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/e\u026a\/<\/td>ay,\u00a0ai,\u00a0ei,\u00a0ey,\u00a0ea, a<\/td>wait, they<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/e\u0259\/<\/td>ai, e, a (before r)<\/td>hair, where<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/\u026a\u0259\/<\/td>ea, ee, e (before r or l)<\/td>dear, peel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/o\u028a\/<\/td>ow, oa, o<\/td>know, rose<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/\u0254\u026a\/<\/td>oy, oi<\/td>boy, noise<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/\u028a\u0259\/<\/td>u<\/td>jury, pure<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

What Are Diphthongs?<\/h2>\n

To understand what a diphthong is, we first have to return to the basics: vowels<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

According to Cambridge’s English Dictionary<\/a>, a vowel is a sound produced by the human mouth without being obstructed<\/em> (blocked) by the teeth, tongue or lips. For example, American English vowels are often categorized<\/em> (organized by type) as long and short vowel sounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The word diphthong comes from the Greek word meaning “two sounds.”<\/a> Based on that definition, we can understand that a diphthong is a sound that combines two vowel sounds<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In fact, these two vowel sounds are pronounced so closely together that they almost sound like one sound instead of two!<\/p>\n

While a diphthong could be any two vowel sounds pronounced together, American English only has eight major diphthongs<\/strong>. We’ll take a look at each one now.<\/p>\n

Note: The letters in sideways brackets are from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), a writing system that allows for accurate descriptions of sounds in all languages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. \/a\u028a\/ as in Town<\/h2>\n

This diphthong can have many spellings and is commonly written as ow<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>or ou<\/strong> <\/em>within English words. Examples with the \/a\u028a\/ diphthong include:<\/p>\n