pronunciation

Pronunciation of English words in Wikipedia is most often given in the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA.

The goal is that interpretation should not depend on the reader's dialect, and therefore a broad transcription is generally used.

Since this key covers standard British, and Australian pronunciations, not all of the distinctions shown here will be important to your language. If, for example, you pronounce cot and caught the same, you can ignore the difference between the symbols /ɒ/ and /ɔː/. In many dialects /r/ occurs only before a vowel; if you speak such a language, simply ignore /r/ in the pronunciation guides where you would not pronounce it.

This key does not encode the difference between the vowels of bad and lad in Australian English, nor between fir, fur, and fern in Scottish English.

For better use of the IPA to show the differences between English dialects, to transcribe languages other than English, or if the IPA symbols are not displayed on your browser, see the links at the bottom of this page.

Readers unfamiliar with IPA may be helped by en:Pronunciation respelling for English.

Key

IPA Examples
Consonants
/b/ but, web
/d/ do, odd
/ð/ this, breathe, father
/dʒ/ gin, joy, edge, jenny
/f/ fool, enough, leaf
/ɡ/ go, get, beg
/h/ ham, ahead
/j/ yes
/k/ cat, kill, skin, queen, thick
/l/ left, bell
/m/ man, ham
/n/ no, tin
/ŋ/ ringer, sing, sink
/ŋɡ/ finger
/p/ pen, spin, tip
/r/ run, very
/s/ see, city, pass
/ʃ/ she, sure, emotion, leash
/t/ two, sting, bet
/tʃ/ chair, nature, teach
/v/ voice, have
/w/ we
/ʍ/ what
/z/ zoo, rose
/ʒ/ pleasure, vision, beige
/θ/ thing, teeth
IPA Examples
Vowels
/ɪ/ bid, pit
/iː/ bead, peat
/i/ happy, city
/ɛ/ bed, pet
/æ/ bad, pat
/ɑː/ balm, father, pa
/ɒ/ bod, pot, cot
/ɔː/ bawd, paw, caught
/ʊ/ good, foot, put
/uː/ booed, food
/ʌ/ bud, nut
Diphthongs
/eɪ/ bay, hey, fate
/aɪ/ buy, high, ride, write
/aʊ/ bough, how, pout
/ɔɪ/ boy, hoy
/oʊ/ beau, hoe, poke, colour
/juː/ beauty, hue, pew, dew
R-colored vowels
/ɪr/ mirror
/ɪər/ beer, mere
/ɛr/ berry, merry
/ɛər/ bear, mare, scary
/ær/ barrow, marry
/ɑr/ bar, mar
/ɒr/ moral, forage
/ɔr/ born, for
/ɔər/ boar, four, more
/ʌr/ hurry, burry
/ʊər/ boor, moor
/ɜr/ bird, myrrh, furry
(alternatively /ɝː/ )
Reduced vowels
/ɨ/ roses, business
/ə/ Rosa’s, above
/ər/ runner, mercer
(alternatively /ɚ/ )
/əl/ bottle
/ən/ button
/əm/ rhythm
IPA: Marginal Sounds
IPA Examples
x Scottish loch
ʔ uh-(ʔ)oh
mm-()mm [to indicate paying attention during a conversation]
IPA: Other symbols used in transcription of English pronunciation
IPA Explanation
ˈ Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable), for example rapping /ˈɹæpɪŋ/
ˌ Secondary stress, for example battleship /ˈbætl̩ˌʃɪp/
. Syllable separator, for example plankton /ˈplæŋk.tən/
 ̩ Syllabic consonant, for example ridden /ˈɹɪdn̩/

Citations

  • To compare these symbols with dictionary conventions you may be more familiar with, see Pronunciation respelling for English, which lists the pronunciation guides of fourteen English dictionaries.
  • For differences among national dialects of English, see the IPA chart for English, which compares the vowels of Received Pronunciation, General American, Australian English, New Zealand English, and Scottish English.
  • For use of the IPA in other languages, see Help:IPA for a quick overview, or the detailed IPA article.
  • If your browser does not display these symbols, you probably need to install a font that includes the IPA. A good free IPA font is Gentium; download links can be found on that page.
  • For adding pronunciation to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA/doc.

Tags:

International Phonetic Alphabet

🔥 Trending searches on Wiki Simple English:

School uniformLanguages of MoroccoAnno DominiVidya Balan84 (number)Jawed Karim24-hour clockKazakhstanVanderpump VillaThe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogEnglandNon-Aligned MovementDeaths in 2024List of Prime Ministers of the United KingdomBrock LesnarPolandContinental United StatesOrgasmMagnus CarlsenList of constituencies of the Lok SabhaCody Rhodes1337xTNT (American TV network)Time in ChinaSonia GandhiSwedenBahrainRomeList of districts of West BengalProphets of IslamßList of elements by symbolDeccan PlateauFlag of MexicoNumberDonald SutherlandHistoryGolden EdgeMadeline ArgyApolloUnit of measurementFlag of ThailandSigmaLList of Jupiter's moonsGunWatergate scandal94 (number)PetabyteGlobal warmingK2Northern HemisphereList of Renaissance artistsCristiano RonaldoPriyanka ChopraNeymarAmazon (company)SZAToy Story 4Timothée ChalametSimón BolívarTomatoLevantBackslashN-type semiconductorJambulFarmingSuleiman the MagnificentPrototheriaMaslow's hierarchy of needsList of cities in FranceFlowerEd LauterDattatreya🡆 More