The dictionary contains IPA-based phonetic transcription for more than 120,000 English words.
Enter a phrase, study the word transcriptions, and listen to how the words are pronounced online.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of symbols for transcription based on the Latin alphabet. It was developed by the International Phonetic Association. This alphabet is used by leading foreign language teachers, linguists for dictionary creation, students, speech therapists, actors, singers, and translators. British dictionaries such as the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries, for example, now use this type of transcription for their words.
IPA was developed to represent only those parts of speech that can be distinguished in oral speech: intonation, phonemes, word, or syllable. As of 2005, the IPA dictionary includes 107 letters, 52 diacritics, and 4 prosodic signs. Below, you can find an explanation of the conventions of this transcription system.
| IPA | Dialectal pronunciation options | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| b | but, web | |
| d | ɾ | do, odd |
| ð | d̪ | this, breathe, father |
| ʤ | gin, joy, edge | |
| f | fool, enough, leaf, photo | |
| ɡ | go, get, beg | |
| h | ɦ, ç | ham, ahead |
| j | yes, hallelujah | |
| k | kʰ | cat, kill, skin, queen, thick |
| l | l, ɫ, ɤ, w, o, ʊ, ʟ | left, bell |
| m | ɱ | man, ham |
| n | no, tin | |
| ŋ | ringer, sing, sink | |
| ŋɡ | finger | |
| θ | θ, t̪ | thing, teeth |
| p | pʰ, p | pen, spin, tip |
| ɹ | ɹʷ, ɹ, ɾ, ɻ, ʋ | run, very |
| s | see, city, pass | |
| ʃ | she, sure, emotion, leash, session | |
| t | tʰ, ɾ, ʔ | two, sting, bet |
| tʃ | t͡ʃʰ | chair, nature, teach |
| v | voice, have | |
| w | we | |
| ʍ | what | |
| z | zoo, rose | |
| ʒ | pleasure, vision, beige | |
| Aspirated consonants | ||
| x | ugh, loch, Chanukah | |
| ʔ | uh-oh /ˈʌʔoʊ/, Hawai‘i /həˈwaɪʔiː/ | |
| IPA | Examples | Erized vowels | |
|---|---|---|---|
| æ | bad, pat | ær | barrow, marry |
| ɑː | balm, father, pa | ɑr | bar, mar |
| ɒ | bod, pot, cot | ɒr | moral, forage |
| ɔː | bawd, paw, caught | ɔr | born, for |
| əʊ | beau, hoe, poke | ɔər | boar, four, more |
| ʊ | good, foot, put | ʊər | boor, moor |
| uː | booed, food | ||
| ʌ | bud, butt | ʌr | hurry, Murray |
| ɜr | bird, myrrh, furry | ||
| ɛ | bed, pet | ɛr | berry, merry |
| eɪ | bay, hey, fate | ɛər | bear, mare, Mary |
| ɪ | bid, pit | ɪr | mirror |
| i | happy, city | ||
| ɪər | beer, mere | ||
| iː | bead, peat | ||
| Diphthongs | Unstressed and reduced vowels | ||
| аɪ | buy, high, ride, write | ə | Rosa’s, above |
| aʊ | bough, how, pout | əl | bottle |
| ɔɪ | boy, hoy | əm | rhythm |
| juː | beauty, hue, pew, dew | ən | button |
| Separation by syllables | ər | runner, mercer | |
| . | moai /ˈmoʊ.аɪ/ | ɨ | roses, business |
You can find more detailed information about the IPA transcription system on Wikipedia.