AAAmerican Accent US

cut up

Separable

The object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.

How to say it

Stress the particle, not the verb: cut UP. Saying “CUT up” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.

The /t/ flaps. Between vowels, American /t/ and /d/ both become a quick tap, so “cut up” comes out as “cu-dup” — closer to a fast D than a T. Drop a pronoun in the middle and it flaps twice: “cut it up” → “cu-di-dup”.

What it means

  1. To cut something into many pieces.

    • “Cut up the vegetables while I heat the pan.”
    • “He cut the card up and threw it away.”

    Similar: chop, dice

The particle logic

up

Something is finished, raised, improved, or brought together.

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More CUT phrasal verbs

Compare the whole family →

cut down

To reduce the amount of something.

cut down on

To consume less of something.

cut back

To reduce spending or activity.

cut off

To disconnect a supply or a service.

cut out

To remove a section by cutting.

cut in

To interrupt a conversation.

cut through

To take a shorter route across something.

cut up — meaning, examples & how to say it