How To Pronounce Expensive

In British English, expensive is pronounced /ɪkˈspen.sɪv/. The narrow phonetic transcription is [ɪkˈspẽn.sɪv]. In American English, it is pronounced /ɪkˈspen.sɪv/.

Expensive has three syllables, and the main stress falls on the second 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.