pronouncekit

SOUND LESSON

How to pronounce /z/: the z sound in zoo

Add voicing to /s/ to make /z/. Hear it in zoo, in spelling s as in rose and in plural endings such as dogs, with first-language guidance.

/z/
American English
/z/ · fricative · alveolar · voiced
British English
/z/ · fricative · alveolar · voiced
Pronunciation model

Try it in a word

Zoe uses easy music.

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 tongue position matches /s/, with air running through a narrow central groove. The vocal folds vibrate at the same time, adding a buzz you can feel with your hand on your throat.

Comparing with Mandarin and Spanish

Letter s often represents /z/, especially between vowels and in endings: easy, rose, dogs. Plural and verb endings are /z/ after most voiced sounds, so this sound is more common than the letter z suggests.

Pinyin z is an affricate rather than /z/. Spanish z is pronounced /s/ or /θ/ by region, so both groups can start with a long /s/ and add voice.

Build the sound, step by step

  1. Hold a long /s/ with your hand on your throat.
  2. Add voicing without moving your tongue: /sssszzzz/.
  3. Say zoo, easy and rose, and keep the buzz at the end of dogs.

What to watch for

  • Reading all s spellings as /s/ can change words: rise and rice differ.
  • Starting with a closure sounds like dz or ts. /z/ begins with continuous friction.

Hear the difference in your own voice

Compare sip and zip, then rice and rise. Keep the mouth still and switch only the voice. In the second pair, also let the vowel before /z/ last slightly longer.

Compare these sounds

Keep practicing

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