Pronunciation Key
Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff 
Key to Pronunciation Symbols
| u | sofa (sOfu), item (Itum), easily (EzulE), cannon (kanun), circus (srkus) |
| a | act (akt), bat (bat) |
| A | ape (Ap), fail (fAl), day (dA) |
| air (r), care (kr) | |
| art (rt), father (fur) | |
| b | back (bak), labor (lAbur), cab (kab) |
| ch | chin (chin), hatchet (hachut), rich (rich) |
| d | dock (dok), lady (lAdE), sad (sad) |
| e | end (end), steady (stedE), met (met) |
| E | eve (Ev), clear (klEr), see (sE) |
| f | fat (fat), phase (fAz), cough (kf) |
| g | get (get), bigger (bigur), tag (tag) |
| h | hand (hand), ahead (uhed) |
| hw | wheel (hwEl), which (hwich) |
| i | it (it), pill (pil), mirror (mirur) |
| I | iron (Iurn), eye (I), buyer (bIur) |
| j | jam (jam), ginger (jinjur), edge (ej) |
| k | kit (kit), tackle (takul), cook (kook) |
| l | little (litul), holly (holE), pull (pool) |
| m | man (man), hammer (hamur), climb (klIm) |
| n | new (noo), known (nOn), winner (winur) |
| ng | singing (singing), finger (finggur), sang (sang), sank (sangk) |
| o | hot (hot), body (bodE) |
| O | over (Ovur), hope (hOp), grow (grO) |
| orbit (rbit), fall (fl), saw (s) | |
| oo | foot (foot), wolf (woolf), put (poot), pure (pyoor) |
| OO | boot (bOOt), lose (lOOz), drew (drOO), true (trOO) |
| oi | oil (oil), royal (roiul), boy (boi) |
| ou | out (out), crowd (kroud), how (hou) |
| p | pipe (pIp), happy (hapE) |
| r | road (rOd), appeared (upErd), carpenter (krpuntur) |
| s | so (sO), cite (sIt), baste (bAst) |
| sh | shall (shal), sure (shOOr), nation (nAshun) |
| t | tight (tIt), better (betur), talked (tkt) |
| th | thin (thin), bath (bath) |
| then (en), father (fur), bathe (bA) | |
| u | but (but), flood (flud), some (sum) |
| curl (krl), girl (grl), fern (frn), worm (wrm) | |
| v | vest (vest), trivial (trivEul), eve (Ev) |
| w | wax (waks), twins (twinz), coward (kouurd) |
| y | you (yOO), onion (unyun) |
| z | zipper (zipur), ease (Ez), treads (tredz) |
| zh | pleasure (plezhur), rouge (rOOzh) |
| as in French peu (p), German Goethe (gtu) | |
| as in French Cluny (klnE) | |
| kh | as in German ach (kh), ich (ikh); Scottish loch (lokh) |
| N | this symbol indicates that the preceding vowel is nasal as in French cinq (saNk), un (N), sans (sN), tombe (tNb), en (N) |
| primary accent, written after accented vowel or syllable: Nebraska (nubrasku), James Buchanan (byOOkanun) | |
| " | secondary accent: Mississippi (mis"us-sipE) |
| dash, replacing obvious portion of pronunciation: hegemony (hijemunE, hE, hejumO"nE, hegu) | |
| - | hyphen, to prevent ambiguity in syllabification: Erlanger (rlang-ur), dishearten (dis-hrtun) |
