English Idiom Bite the Bullet Meaning and Pronunciation

In this American English pronunciation video,

we’re going to go over the idiom “bite the bullet”.

Sorry, but you’ll just have to bite the bullet.

What does that mean?

It comes from stories of long ago

when a wounded soldier was told to bite a bullet

before undergoing surgery without anesthesia

to deal with the pain.

This may or may not be true – but the idiom has lasted.

We use it when we have to deal with a painful or unpleasant situation.

I might say, I’m down to my last sock,

I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and do the laundry.

Or if all the flights are sold out for the holidays,

you might have to bite the bullet and drive to visit family.

Let’s study the pronunciation of “bite the bullet”.

First, look at the rhythmic pattern.

Which are the content words?

Content words are nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

In this sentence fragment, that would be BITE and BULLET,

so our stressed syllables are the first and third:

Bite the bullet. BITE the BULL-et.

These stressed syllables will be longer and have the shape of a stressed syllable:

Up, down. Bite– Bull–

The unstressed syllables will be shorter, flatter, and lower in pitch,

the–

let–

the–

let–

Bite the bullet.

DA-da-DA-da

Bite the bullet.

We start with the B consonant sound.

The lips are together and then release.
The jaw drops down for the AI diphthong.

Bi–

Remember this is stressed, so let it fall off in pitch to give it the right shape.

Bi–

For the ending position of the diphthong, the tongue arches up towards the roof of the mouth,

so the jaw comes up, bi-iii, bi-.

Now we have a Stop T: stop the airflow abruptly for the Stop T

and bring the tongue into position, with the front, flat part against the roof of the mouth.

Bite, bite, bite the–

You should then release the Stop T into the TH.

Because this is a voiced TH beginning a very common and unstressed word, ‘the’,

you don’t need to bring the tongue tip all the way through the teeth.

Instead, you can press the tip against the back of the teeth, where the teeth come together.

The, the, the, bite the–, bite the–

Release the tongue down from the teeth for the schwa: The, the, the, bite the–

Remember, since it’s unstressed, it should be
flat and quick: The, the, the, bite the– bite the–

Then the lips come back together for another B sound,

which release into the UH as in PUSH vowel,

bul- bul-

Remember again the shape of the voice, up-down: Bul–

That’s really important. Bite the bul–

The Dark L comes next, so the back part of the
tongue will stretch back a little bit

to make the dark sound, uuh, uhhl, uhl.

and the front of the tongue will reach up to
the roof of the mouth to finish the Dark L.

Bul–

Then the tongue will drop down into an unstressed IH as in SIT vowel

very quickly before going back up for another Stop T.

Bull-et. Bullet.

Again, abruptly stop the air for the Stop T. Bullet.

Bullet. Bite the bullet. DA-da-DA-da

Bite the bullet.

Practice your English. Make up a sentence with this idiom and post it in the comments below below.

I’m happy to tell you that my book, American English Pronunciation, is available for purchase.

If you want an organized, step-by-step
resource to build your American accent,

click here to get the book, or see the description below. I think you’re going to love it.

I love making these videos, but it’s time to finish this one,

so I’ll have to bite the bullet and say:

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.

在这个美式英语发音视频中，

我们将复习成语“bite the bullet”。

对不起，但你只需要咬紧牙关。

这意味着什么？

它来自很久以前的故事，

当时一名受伤的士兵被告知

在没有麻醉的情况下进行手术前要咬紧牙关

来应对疼痛。

这可能是真的，也可能不是——但这个成语已经持续了。

当我们不得不处理痛苦或不愉快的情况时，我们会使用它。

我可能会说，我只剩下最后一只袜子了，

我想我得硬着头皮洗衣服了。

或者，如果假期的所有航班都售罄，

您可能不得不硬着头皮开车去探望家人。

让我们研究一下“咬紧牙关”的发音。

首先，看节奏型。

内容词有哪些？

实词是名词、动词、形容词和副词。

在这个句子片段中，那将是 BITE 和 BULLET，

所以我们的重读音节是第一个和第三个音节：

Bite the bullet。 硬着头皮。

这些重读音节会更长，并且具有重读音节的形状：

向上，向下。 Bite– Bull– 未重读

的音节会更短、更平、音调更低，

the–

let– the– let–

Bite the bullet。

DA-da-DA-da

咬紧牙关。

我们从 B 辅音开始。

嘴唇合在一起，然后松开。
AI双元音的下巴下降。

Bi–

记住这是有压力的，所以让它在音高上掉下来，让它形成正确的形状。

Bi–

对于双元音的结束位置，舌头向上拱向嘴巴的顶部，

因此下巴向上，bi-iii，bi-。

现在我们有了一个 Stop T：在 Stop T 处突然停止气流

，并将舌头放在适当的位置，前部平坦的部分靠在嘴巴的顶部。

咬，咬，咬——

然后你应该将 Stop T 释放到 TH 中。

因为这是一个浊音 TH，以一个非常常见且不重读的单词“the”开头，所以

您无需将舌尖一直穿过牙齿。

取而代之的是，您可以将尖端压在牙齿的后部，牙齿聚集在一起的地方。

那个，那个，那个，咬–，咬–

把舌头从牙齿上放下来，让

schwa , the, the, 咬–咬–

然后双唇合拢，发出另一个 B 音，

它像 PUSH 元音一样释放到 UH 中，

bul- bul-

再次记住声音的形状，上下： 布尔——

这真的很重要。 Bite the bul –

接下来是Dark L，所以
舌头的后部会向后伸展一点

，发出黑暗的声音，uuh，uhhl，uhl。

并且舌头的前部将
到达嘴顶以完成Dark L.

Bull–然后舌头将很快下降到一个无重读的IH，就像在SIT元音中一样，

然后又回到另一个Stop T.

Bull -等。 子弹。

再次，突然停止空气停止 T。子弹。

子弹。 硬着头皮。 DA-da-DA-da

咬紧牙关。

练习你的英语。 用这个成语造一个句子，并将其发布在下面的评论中。

我很高兴地告诉你，我的书，美式英语发音，可以购买。

如果您想要一个有组织的、循序渐进的
资源来培养您的美国口音，

请单击此处获取该书，或查看下面的说明。 我想你会喜欢的。

我喜欢制作这些视频，但是是时候完成这个了，

所以我不得不硬着头皮说：

就是这样，非常感谢您使用 Rachel 的英语。