Pronunciation Key
Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff 
Key to Pronunciation Symbols
| u | sofa (sO´fu), item (I´tum), easily (E´zulE), cannon (kan´un), circus (sûr´kus) |
| a | act (akt), bat (bat) |
| A | ape (Ap), fail (fAl), day (dA) |
| â | air (âr), care (kâr) |
| ä | art (ärt), father (fä´ður) |
| b | back (bak), labor (lA´bur), cab (kab) |
| ch | chin (chin), hatchet (hach´ut), rich (rich) |
| d | dock (dok), lady (lA´dE), sad (sad) |
| e | end (end), steady (sted´E), met (met) |
| E | eve (Ev), clear (klEr), see (sE) |
| f | fat (fat), phase (fAz), cough (kôf) |
| g | get (get), bigger (big´ur), tag (tag) |
| h | hand (hand), ahead (uhed´) |
| hw | wheel (hwEl), which (hwich) |
| i | it (it), pill (pil), mirror (mir´ur) |
| I | iron (I´urn), eye (I), buyer (bI´ur) |
| j | jam (jam), ginger (jin´jur), edge (ej) |
| k | kit (kit), tackle (tak´ul), cook (kook) |
| l | little (lit´ul), holly (hol´E), pull (pool) |
| m | man (man), hammer (ham´ur), climb (klIm) |
| n | new (noo), known (nOn), winner (win´ur) |
| ng | singing (sing´ing), finger (fing´gur), sang (sang), sank (sangk) |
| o | hot (hot), body (bod´E) |
| O | over (O´vur), hope (hOp), grow (grO) |
| ô | orbit (ôr´bit), fall (fôl), saw (sô) |
| oo | foot (foot), wolf (woolf), put (poot), pure (pyoor) |
| OO | boot (bOOt), lose (lOOz), drew (drOO), true (trOO) |
| oi | oil (oil), royal (roi´ul), boy (boi) |
| ou | out (out), crowd (kroud), how (hou) |
| p | pipe (pIp), happy (hap´E) |
| r | road (rOd), appeared (upErd´), carpenter (kär´puntur) |
| s | so (sO), cite (sIt), baste (bAst) |
| sh | shall (shal), sure (shOOr), nation (nA´shun) |
| t | tight (tIt), better (bet´ur), talked (tôkt) |
| th | thin (thin), bath (bath) |
| ð | then (ðen), father (fä´ður), bathe (bAð) |
| u | but (but), flood (flud), some (sum) |
| û | curl (kûrl), girl (gûrl), fern (fûrn), worm (wûrm) |
| v | vest (vest), trivial (triv´Eul), eve (Ev) |
| w | wax (waks), twins (twinz), coward (kou´urd) |
| y | you (yOO), onion (un´yun) |
| z | zipper (zip´ur), ease (Ez), treads (tredz) |
| zh | pleasure (plezh´ur), rouge (rOOzh) |
| ö | as in French peu (pö), German Goethe (gö´tu) |
| ü | as in French Cluny (klünE´) |
| kh | as in German ach (äkh), ich (ikh); Scottish loch (lokh) |
| N | this symbol indicates that the preceding vowel is nasal as in French cinq (saNk), un (öN), sans (säN), tombe (tôNb), en (äN) |
| ´ | primary accent, written after accented vowel or syllable: Nebraska (nubras´ku), James Buchanan (byOOka´nun) |
| " | secondary accent: Mississippi (mis"us-sip´E) |
| | dash, replacing obvious portion of pronunciation: hegemony (hijem´unE, hE, hej´umO"nE, heg´u) |
| - | hyphen, to prevent ambiguity in syllabification: Erlanger (ûr´lang-ur), dishearten (dis-här´tun) |
See also:
