Pronunciation guide
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used to show how the words are pronounced.
IPA Symbols
Vowel sounds
aː calm, ball, dark
( xː when the symbol ‘’ ː ’’ follows a vowel symbol, it means that the vowel is pronounced longer. )
æ act, mass, cat, sad, bad, hand
aɪ dive, cry, five
aɪə (British English phonetics) fire, tyre faɪr / taɪr (American English phonetics)
aʊ out, down, mouse, shout
aʊə (British English phonetics) flour, sour flaʊr / saʊr (American English phonetics)
e met, lend, pen, ten
eɪ say, weight, clay, hay
eə (British English phonetics) fair, care fer / ker (American English phonetics)
ɪ fit, win, sin, pin, will, bin
iː seem, me, bee, see, keep
ɪə (British English phonetics) near, beard nɪr / bɪrd (American English phonetics)
ɒ lot, spot, top, God
oʊ note, coat, boat
ɔː claw, more
ɔɪ boy, joint, toy
ʊ put, stood
uː loot, soon, moon
ʊə(British English phonetics) pure pjʊr (American English phonetics) ( jʊ / jə you)
ɜ: turn, third, nurse
ʌ fund, must, cup, bus
ə the first vowel in about
Consonant Sounds
b bed, bat
d done, red
f fit, if
g good, dog
h hat, horse
j yellow, you
k king, pick
l lip, bill
m mat, man
n not, tan
p pay, tip
r run, read
s soon, bus
t talk, bet
v van, love
w win, wool
x box, fox
z zoo, buzz
ʃ ship, wish
ʒ measure, leisure
η sing, working
tʃ cheap, witch
θ thin, myth
ð then, though
dʒ joy, bridge
Notes Primary and secondary stress are shown by marks above and below the line, in front of the stressed
syllable. For example, in the word abbreviation,/ə,briːviˈeɪʃən/, the second syllable has secondary stress and the
fourth syllable has primary stress. We do not normally show pronunciations for compound words (words which
are made up of more than one word). Pronunciations for the words that make up the compounds are usually
found at their entries at other parts of the dictionary. However, compound words do have stress markers.
