How To Pronounce Butterfly

In British English, butterfly is pronounced /ˈbʌt.ə.flaɪ/. The narrow phonetic transcription is [ˈbʌt.ə.fl̥aɪ]. In American English, it is pronounced /ˈbʌt.ər.flaɪ/.

Butterfly has three syllables, and the main stress falls on the first syllable. The British and American pronunciations are different, so listen to both.

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.