SOUND LESSON

How to pronounce /ʊ/: the vowel in book

Relax your lips and tongue for /ʊ/ in book and good. Separate it from the longer vowel in food, and learn why it is not a shortened Mandarin wu.

/ʊ/

American English: /ʊ/ · monophthong · near-close · back · rounded
British English: /ʊ/ · monophthong · short · near-close · back · rounded

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Pronunciation model

Try it in a word

She could put a good book on it.

Mouth & tongue

Enable JavaScript to view the 3D panda. Pronunciation steps remain available below.

Vocal folds: vibrating

TongueTeethUvula

Simplified human pronunciation. The small uvula hangs from the palate; it is not the vocal folds. The wave indicates voicing.

Voice settings

The mouth starts slightly open. Movement is slowed for observation; the synthetic sound plays once at its original speed. Pause holds the current mouth shape; reset returns to the relaxed position. The panda is a symbolic teaching aid for human pronunciation, not animal anatomy.

What your mouth is doing

The back of the tongue rises, but less than for food. The lips round loosely rather than tightly, and the jaw stays nearly closed. It is short and relaxed.

Comparing with Mandarin and Spanish

Spelling is unhelpful: oo can be /ʊ/ in book or /u/ in food, and u can be /ʊ/ in put or /ʌ/ in cut. Learn common words as you meet them.

Mandarin wu and Spanish u are higher and tenser than /ʊ/. Shortening them is not enough: relax your lips and lower your tongue slightly.

Build the sound, step by step

Start from food, then relax your lips and lower your tongue a little.
Keep the vowel short and move straight to the consonant in good.
Say book, could and woman. Could has a silent l.

What to watch for

Tight lip rounding turns full into fool. Relax the lips.
Reading could by its letters adds a false l. It rhymes with good.

Hear the difference in your own voice

Alternate full and fool, then look and Luke. Keep the final consonant the same. Relax for full and look; tense and tighten the lips for fool and Luke.

References & editorial notes

PronounceKit wrote this lesson as practical guidance. The references below describe the sounds; the comparisons with other languages are editorial teaching suggestions. It describes common American and British patterns, not every accent, and it has not been independently reviewed by a pronunciation specialist. The mouth model is a simplified teaching aid, not a validated simulation.

Published 3 November 2026