How To Pronounce Ancient

In British English, ancient is pronounced /ˈeɪn.ʃənt/. The narrow phonetic transcription is [ˈeɪ̃n.ʃə̃nt̚]. In American English, it is pronounced /ˈeɪn.ʃənt/.

Ancient has two syllables, and the main stress falls on the first syllable. British and American speakers say it the same way.

Slashes / / show the phonemic transcription, the sounds that change meaning. Square brackets [ ] show the phonetic transcription, with the finer detail of how the sounds are actually made.