I’ve always wanted to try making croissants. Learn how to practice this word by breaking it down sound by sound, knowing what’s stressed and what’s not.
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Video Text:
In this American English pronunciation video, we’re going to go over the pronunciation of the word ‘croissant’.
This week’s Word of the Week is ‘croissant’. It was suggested by a user on YouTube, Rebeca. Thanks so much for this suggestion, it allows me indulge. I absolutely love croissants. One of my favorite pastries.
Croissants originated in France, so of course the original pronunciation is French. In American English, we have our own pronunciation of it that it uses American sounds and feels more comfortable to us. I recently did a word the week on BURRITO, which sparked quite a debate on whether or not it’s even ok to have an American English pronunciation of this Spanish word. To check out that video, click here or see the video description.
So here’s the American English pronunciation of ‘croissant’. It’s a two-syllable word with stress last syllable. da-DA, croissant. It begins with the k-r consonant cluster. I can have my tongue in position for the R when I make the K sound. So for the R, the middle part of the tongue is touching the roof of the mouth here. For the K, the back part of my tongue is touching the roof of the mouth here. So I can be touching from the middle all the way to the back, and simply release the back to go into the R sound. The tip of my tongue shouldn’t be touching anything, and the lips will flare some. Cr-, cr-. The vowel in this unstressed syllable is the schwa. Uh, uh, super quick, almost no jaw drop, relaxed tongue. Make that first syllable really short, so we have contrast between it and the second syllable, which is stressed, croi-, croi-, croi-.
The second syllable begins with the S consonant sound. The teeth come together for this sound, the corners of the lips might pull a little bit wide, ss, and the tip of the tongue will press here behind the bottom front teeth. Ss, ss. Next is the AH as in FATHER vowel. Drop your jaw for that, -ssa-, and there will be a little tension in the back of the tongue as it presses down for that vowel. Then we have the NT ending. Just like with the N’T contractions, many native speakers will not pronounce a True T there. What we do instead is combine the stop quality of the T with the nasal quality of the N to make a nasally stop sound. We want it to be a little abrupt. Croissant. Not ‘croissan’ — with the normal shape of a stressed syllable, but croissant. This abruptness lets us know there was a T there. Croissant.
Now I’m going to finish my croissant.
That’s it, your Word of the Week. Try it out yourself. Make up a sentence with the word, record it, and post it as a video response to this video on YouTube. I can’t wait to watch it.
If there’s a word you find difficult to pronounce, suggest it as a Word of the Week in the comments.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
Hear the difference immediately.
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