Pronunciation

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Pronunciation
English pronunciation varies considerably across the English speaking world. WordWeb only provides a rough guide,
concentrating on the standard American and RP (BBC English) varieties that are widely comprehended. The correct
local pronunciation will depend on where you are. In particular the vowel sounds vary very widely; words that rhyme in one
locale may not in another (though in many cases vowel sounds change in a consistent pattern).
Hold the mouse cursor over the pronunciation to display a larger breakdown into the following sounds:
b
d
f
g
h
j
k
l
m
n
p
r

but
door
fall
good
happy
jug
cut
list
moon
near
part
rest**

aa
aw
e
eh
ee
ey
eu
i
I
o

s
t
v
w
y
z

soft
turn
village
wet
yet
zoom

oo
ow
w
oy

cat, anger
cast, grass*
arm, calm
out, now
bet, egg
air, wear
sleep, each
day, rain
coiffeur
tip, inch
eye, fry
organ, law
cot, orange*
too, food
toad, own
cold, whole
boy, boil

ado, about
up, brother
book, put

ch
sh
th
dh
zh
ng
xh

rich
shut
theme
the
confusion
sing
Bach

* These vowel sounds move around considerably with location. In the US often sounds similar to aa or
sometimes o. In the south UK is the same as aa, but in the US and north UK usually the sound is like a
(the actual sound of a is also different).
** In British RP r is generally only sounded if before a vowel; ur is sometimes as in fir.
Primary stresses are marked with , secondary stresses with `. The stress can vary depending on part of speech and in
some cases the sense.
Sounds that are sometimes present are enclosed in brackets.
Examples:
other
overlook [n]
overlook [v]

' dhu(r)
'owvur`lk
`owvur'lk

quirky
coast
deny

'kwurkee
kowst
di'nI

There are some broad rules on whether optional sounds are voiced or not. The (y) sound is almost always present in
British English (and many other varieties), but often absent in US English; so news is pronounced n(y)ooz - which is nooz
in the US and nyooz in the UK Optional (r) sounds are usually present at some level in US English, but not sounded in
British English. So other sounds like dhu in the UK but like dhur in the US.

Installing sound files

You can also hear many pronunciations directly if you install some sound files. For details see the web download
instructions.
Without sound files installed you can still press the speaker icon in the WordWeb window to have Windows' text-to-speech
engine say the look up word.

mk:@MSITStore:C:\Users\slg005250.SAIPEMNET\AppData\Roaming\WordWeb\wor...

1/5/2015