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Consonant

ZH

The ZH sound is a voiced postalveolar fricative, the voiced counterpart to the SH sound (/ʃ/). It is made in the same mouth position as SH, but with vocal cord vibration.

ʒ
Phonetic System (Merriam-Webster):ʒ

Watch the Sound

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Example Words

Main Example

vision
Phonetic: /ˈvɪʒən/

Common Words

vision/ˈvɪʒən/
measure/ˈmɛʒər/
pleasure/ˈplɛʒər/
usual/ˈjuːʒuəl/
garage/ɡəˈrɑːʒ/ or /ˈɡærɪdʒ/
beige/beɪʒ/
leisure/ˈliːʒər/ or /ˈlɛʒər/

Minimal Pairs

Listen and compare similar sounds

ʒ
measure
/ˈmɛʒər/
Compare with
M
messer
/ˈmɛsər/
ʒ
vision
/ˈvɪʒən/
Compare with
V
vission
/ˈvɪʃən/
ʒ
azure
/ˈæʒər/
Compare with
A
asher
/ˈæʃər/
ʒ
leisure
/ˈliːʒər/
Compare with
L
leecher
/ˈliːtʃər/

Tongue Twister

The beige garage door's measure is usually a pleasure to view.

Try it yourself

Practice saying this tongue twister

Technical Details

  • CategoryConsonant
  • VoicingVoiced
  • Place of ArticulationPost-alveolar
  • Manner of ArticulationFricative
  • Mouth PositionRound your lips slightly. Raise the blade (the part just behind the tip) of your tongue towards the roof of your mouth, just behind the alveolar ridge (the bump behind your upper teeth). Don't let your tongue tip touch the ridge. Keep the sides of your tongue touching the upper side teeth. Push air out through the channel created, while vibrating your vocal cords.