Pronunciation Symbols

Spelling Index

For more information see Guide to Pronunciation.

e	banana, collide, abut
'e, ,e	humdrum, abut
e	immediately preceding \ l \, \ n \, \m\, \n\, as in battle, mitten, eaten, and sometimes open \'o¯p-em\, lock and key \-en-\; immediately following \ l \, \ m \, \ r \, as often in French table, prisme, titre
er	further, merger, bird

'er-, 'e-r    as in two different pronunciations
of hurry, \'her-e¯, 'he-re¯\

a	mat, map, mad, gag, snap, patch
a¯	day, fade, date, aorta, drape, cape
a¯	bother, cot, and, with most American speakers, father, cart
a¯	father as pronounced by speakers who do not rhyme it with bother; French patte
au¯	now, loud, out
b	baby, rib
ch	chin, nature \'na¯-cher\ (actually this sound is  \ t \ + \ sh \ )
d	did, adder
e	bet, bed, peck

'e¯, ,e¯

beat, nosebleed, evenly, easy

e¯	easy, mealy
f	fifty, cuff
g	go, big, gift
h	hat, ahead
hw	whale as pronounced by those who do not have the same pronunciation for both whale and wail
i	tip, banish, active
i¯	site, side, buy, tripe (actually, this sound is \ a¯ \ + \ i \, or \ a¯ \ + \ i \ )
j	job, gem, edge, join, judge (actually, this sound is \ d \ + \ zh \ )
k	kin, cook, ache
k_	German ich, Buch; one pronunciation of loch
l	lily, pool
m	murmur, dim, nymph
n	no, own
n	indicates that a preceding vowel or diphthong is pronounced with the nasal passages open, as in French un bon vin blanc \œn-bo¯n-van-bla¯n\
n	sing \'sin\, singer \'sin-er\, finger \'fin-er\, ink \'ink\
o¯	bone, know, beau
o¯	saw, all, gnaw, caught
œ	French boeuf, German Ho¯lle
œ¯	French feu, German Ho¯hle
o¯i	coin, destroy
p	pepper, lip
r	red, car, rarity
s	source, less
sh	as in shy, mission, machine, special (actually, this is a single sound, not two); with a hyphen between, two sounds as in grasshopper \'gras-,ha¯p-er\
t	tie, attack, late, later, latter
th	as in thin, ether (actually, this is a single sound, not two); with a hyphen between, two sounds as in knighthood \'ni¯t-,hu¯d\

_t_h

then, either, this (actually, this is a single sound, not two)

u¯	rule, youth, union \'yu¯n-yen\, few \'fyu¯\
u¯	pull, wood, book, curable \'kyu¯r-e-bel\, fury \'fyu¯(e)r-e¯\
u	German fu¯llen, hu¯bsch
u¯	French rue, German fu¯hlen
v	vivid, give
w	we, away; in some words having final \(,)o¯\, \(,)yu¯\, or \(,)u¯\ a variant \e-w\ occurs before vowels, as in \'fa¯l-e-win\,

covered by the variant \e(-w)\ or \ye(-w)\ at the entry word.

y	yard, young, cue \'kyu¯\, mute \'myu¯t\, union \'yu¯n-yen\
y	indicates that during the articulation of the sound represented by the preceding character the front of the tongue has substantially the position it has for the articulation of the first sound of yard, as in the French digne \de¯ny\
z	zone, raise
zh	as in vision, azure \'azh-er\ (actually, this is a single sound, not two); with a hyphen between, two sounds as in hogshead \'ho¯gz-,hed, 'ha¯gz-\
\	slant line used in pairs to mark the beginning and end of a transcription: \'pen\
'	mark preceding a syllable with primary (strongest) stress: \'pen-men-,ship\
,	mark preceding a syllable with secondary (medium) stress: \'pen-men-,ship\
-	mark of syllable division
( )	indicate that what is symbolized between is present in some utterances but not in others: factory \'fak-t(e)re¯\
,	indicates that many regard as unacceptable the pronunciation variant immediately following: cupola \'kyu¯-pe-le, ¸,lo¯\