Pronunciation key
Every entry gives an American pronunciation (General American) and a British one (Standard Southern British) in the International Phonetic Alphabet, between slashes. The mark ? after a transcription means the checks disagreed about it; * means it has not been checked yet. The key words below are ordinary words that contain the sound in the accent named.
Stress and syllables
| Mark | Meaning |
|---|
| ˈ | primary stress: the syllable that follows is the strongest |
| ˌ | secondary stress |
| . | a syllable break |
Consonants (both accents)
| Symbol | As in |
|---|
| p | pen |
| b | bad |
| t | tea |
| d | did |
| k | cat |
| ɡ | get |
| tʃ | chin |
| dʒ | jam |
| f | fall |
| v | van |
| θ | thin |
| ð | this |
| s | see |
| z | zoo |
| ʃ | she |
| ʒ | vision |
| h | hat |
| m | man |
| n | no |
| ŋ | sing |
| l | leg |
| r | red |
| w | wet |
| j | yes |
Vowels, American
| Symbol | As in |
|---|
| i | see |
| ɪ | sit |
| ɛ | bed |
| æ | cat |
| ɑ | father, hot |
| ɔ | law (for speakers who keep it apart from the vowel of hot) |
| ʊ | put |
| u | too |
| ʌ | cup |
| ə | about (the first sound) |
| ɚ | letter (the last sound) |
| ɝ | bird |
| eɪ | day |
| oʊ | go |
| aɪ | my |
| aʊ | now |
| ɔɪ | boy |
Vowels, British
| Symbol | As in |
|---|
| iː | see |
| i | happy (the last sound) |
| ɪ | sit |
| e | bed |
| æ | cat |
| ɑː | father |
| ɒ | hot |
| ɔː | law |
| ʊ | put |
| uː | too |
| ʌ | cup |
| ə | about (the first sound) |
| ɜː | bird |
| eɪ | day |
| əʊ | go |
| aɪ | my |
| aʊ | now |
| ɔɪ | boy |
| ɪə | near |
| eə | hair |
| ʊə | pure |
Other symbols that occur in entries: g.