5/5/23, 3:49 PM Help:Pronunciation respelling key - Wikipedia

Help:Pronunciation respelling key

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an information page.

It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, but rather intends to describe some
aspect(s) of Wikipedia's norms, customs, technicalities, or practices. It may reflect varying
levels of consensus and vetting.

This page contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an
introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA
§ Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The following pronunciation respelling key is used in some Wikipedia articles to respell the
pronunciations of English words. It does not use special symbols or diacritics apart from the schwa
(ə), which is used for the first sound in the word "about". See documentation for {{Respell}} for
examples and instructions on using the template.

Key
Both the IPA and respelling for English on Wikipedia are designed to record all distinctive sounds
found in major varieties of English. That is, we record differences found in some varieties but not
in others, such as those between "father" and "farther", "wine" and "whine", and "cot" and
"caught". This does not mean these differences are, or must be, always distinguished; if you speak
a dialect that does not distinguish "father" and "farther", for example, simply ignore the difference
between FAH-dhər and FAR-dhər.

For a more thorough discussion of the sounds and dialectal variation, see Help:IPA/English.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key 1/5
5/5/23, 3:49 PM Help:Pronunciation respelling key - Wikipedia

Vowels Consonants

Rspl. Example(s) IPA Rspl. Example(s) IPA

a[1] bat /æ/ b buy /b/

ah father /ɑː/ ch[7] church, nature /tʃ/

air bear, Mary /ɛər/ d dye, ladder /d/

ar farther /ɑːr/ dh thy, this /ð/

arr marry /ær/ f fight /f/

aw bought /ɔː/ g go
/ɡ/
ay bait /eɪ/ gh[8] guess, guitar

e[1] bet h high /h/

/ɛ/
eh[2] prestige j jive /dʒ/

beat /iː/ k kite, sky, lock /k/

ee
happy, serious /i/ kh loch, Chanukah /x/

eer beer, nearer /ɪər/ l lie, sly /l/

err merry /ɛr/ m my /m/

ew[3] cute, beauty, dew /juː/ n nigh /n/

ng ring, singer /ŋ/
eye[4] item, yikes
/aɪ/
nk[9] sink /ŋk/
y[4] bite, bide
p pie, spy /p/
i[1] bit
/ɪ/ r rye, try /r/
ih[5] historic
s sigh
ire hire /aɪər/ /s/
ss[10] ice, tense
irr mirror /ɪr/
sh shy /ʃ/
o[1] bot /ɒ/
t tie, sty, latter /t/
oh boat /oʊ/
tch[7] church, natural /tʃ/
oir coir /ɔɪər/
th thigh /θ/
boot, you /uː/
oo v vine /v/
influence, fruition /u/
w wine /w/
oor poor, tourist /ʊər/
wh whine /hw/
or horse, hoarse, pour, forum /ɔːr/
y you /j/
orr moral /ɒr/
z zoo /z/
our flour /aʊər/
zh pleasure /ʒ/
ow bout, vow /aʊ/

oy choice, boy /ɔɪ/

u[1] but
/ʌ/
uh[6] frustration

ur bird, furry /ɜːr/

ure[3] cure, lure /jʊər/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key 2/5
5/5/23, 3:49 PM Help:Pronunciation respelling key - Wikipedia

Rspl. Example(s) IPA

urr hurry /ʌr/

uu[1] book /ʊ/

uurr courier /ʊr/

ə about, comma /ə/

ər letter /ər/

Syllables and stress

Respelled syllables are visually separated by hyphens ("-"), and the stress on a syllable is indicated
by capital letters. For example, the word "pronunciation" (/prəˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃən/) is respelled prə-NUN-
see-AY-shən. In this example, the primary and secondary stress are not distinguished because the
difference is automatic. In words where primary stress precedes secondary stress, however, the
secondary stress should not be differentiated from unstressed syllables; for example, "motorcycle"
(transcribed with the stress /ˈmoʊtərˌsaɪkəl/ in American dictionaries, /ˈmoʊtərsaɪkəl/ in British)
should be respelled as MOH-tər-sy-kəl because MOH-tər-SY-kəl would incorrectly suggest the
pronunciation /ˌmoʊtərˈsaɪkəl/.

When to use and when not to

As designated in Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation, the standard set of symbols used to
show the pronunciation of English words on Wikipedia is the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA). The IPA has significant advantages over this respelling system, as it can be used to
accurately represent pronunciations from any language in the world, and (being an international
standard) is often more familiar to European/Commonwealth and non-native speakers of English.
On the other hand, the IPA (being designed to represent sounds from any language in the world) is
not as intuitive for those chiefly familiar with English orthography, for whom this respelling
system is likely to be easier for English words and names. So, while the IPA is the required form of
representing pronunciation, respelling remains optional. It should not be used for representing
non-English words or an approximation thereof.

Sometimes another means of indicating a pronunciation is more desirable than this respelling
system, such as when a name is intended to be a homonym of an existing English word or phrase,
or in case of an initialism or a name composed of numbers or symbols. When citing a homonym, it
should not be enclosed in the {{respell}} template. In such cases, an IPA notation is usually
nevertheless needed, but not necessarily so; see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Other
transcription systems for further discussion.

Respelling should also be avoided when a respelled syllable would be the same as an existing word
that is pronounced differently. "Maui" /ˈmaʊi/ respelled as MOW-ee, "metonymy" /mɛˈtɒnɪmi/ as
meh-TON-im-ee, and "cobalt" /ˈkoʊbɒlt/ as KOH-bolt are susceptible to being misinterpreted as
/ˈmoʊi/, /mɛˈtʌnɪmi/, and /ˈkoʊboʊlt/, because of the words "mow", "ton", and "bolt", so only IPA
should be provided for such words.

Particularly, respelling /aʊ/ could prove problematic as there are a variety of monosyllabic words
spelled with "ow" and pronounced with /oʊ/: blow, blown, bow, bowl, flow, flown, glow, grow,
grown, growth, low, mow, mown, own, row, show, slow, snow, sow, sown, stow, strow, throw,
tow, and trow. There is no universal solution to this problem ("ou" also varies as in loud, soup,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key 3/5
5/5/23, 3:49 PM Help:Pronunciation respelling key - Wikipedia

soul, and touch), so respelling a word including /aʊ/ may be best avoided altogether; however,
sometimes the benefit of respelling may outweigh the disadvantage, especially for longer words, so
exercise discretion.

See also
Help:IPA/Conventions for English
Help:IPA/English
{{Respell}}: the template and instructions for adding pronunciation respelling
Pronunciation respelling for English
Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation

Notes
1. /æ, ɛ, ɪ, ɒ, ʌ, ʊ/ (a, e(h), i(h), o, u(h), uu) are checked vowels, meaning never occurring at the
end of a word or before a vowel. When a checked vowel is followed by a consonant and a
stressed vowel, which is rare nonetheless, it is acceptable in some cases to attribute the
following consonant to the same syllable as the checked vowel, as in bal-AY, even though in
IPA it is customary to attribute it to the following syllable, as in /bæˈleɪ/. However, when the
following consonant is a voiceless plosive (/p, t, k/) pronounced with aspiration (a slight delay
in the following vowel), it must be attributed to the same syllable as the following vowel, as in
ta-TOO, because tat-OO may result in a different pronunciation than intended (compare
"whatever" whot-EV-ər, whut-, wherein /t/ is not aspirated and may be glottalized or flapped).
Similarly, when a vowel is followed by /s/, one or more consonants, and a stressed vowel, the
syllabification must be retained, as in fruh-STRAY-shən, because frus-TRAY-shən may result in
a different pronunciation than intended.
2. /ɛ/ in syllable-final positions may be respelled eh instead of e when otherwise it may be
misinterpreted as another sound such as /i(ː)/ or /eɪ/.
3. ew and ure are for when /juː/ or /jʊər/ takes place right after a consonant within the same
syllable. When /juː/ or /jʊər/ begins a syllable (e.g. "youth", "Europe", "value"), use yoo(r)—
unless it is subject to yod-dropping or yod-coalescence: "Lithuania" LITH-ew-AY-nee-ə.
4. /aɪ/ is respelled eye when it begins a syllable or is preceded by /j/ and otherwise y. When y is
followed by a consonant within the same syllable, place an e after the consonant as
necessary: "tight" TYTE.
5. /ɪ/ in syllable-final positions may be respelled ih instead of i when otherwise it may be
misinterpreted as another sound such as /aɪ/.
6. /ʌ/ in syllable-final positions is respelled uh instead of u to better distinguish it from /u(ː), ʊ/.
7. /tʃ/ after a vowel in the same syllable is respelled tch instead of ch to better distinguish it from
/k, x/.
8. /ɡ/ may be respelled gh instead of g when otherwise it may be misinterpreted as /dʒ/.
9. /ŋk/ is respelled nk rather than ngk, since the assimilation is mandatory, except beyond a
syllable boundary: "tinker" TING-kər.
10. /s/ may be respelled ss instead of s when otherwise it may be misinterpreted as /z/: "ice"
EYESS, "tense" TENSS (compare eyes, tens).

International Phonetic Alphabet keys [hide]

Adyghe · Afrikaans · Albanian · Amharic · Arabic (Modern Standard · Egyptian · Hejazi · Lebanese ·
Tunisian) · Armenian · Assamese · Asturian · Australian languages · Azerbaijani · Basque · Belarusian ·
Bengali · Berber · Breton · Bulgarian · Burmese · Catalan / Valencian (Standard · Insular) · Chinese
(Mandarin · Cantonese · Taiwanese Hokkien · Wu) · Corsican · Czech · Danish · Dari · Dutch · English

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key 4/5
5/5/23, 3:49 PM Help:Pronunciation respelling key - Wikipedia

(Old English) · Emilian-Romagnol · Esperanto · Estonian · Extremaduran · Fijian · Finnish · Franco-Provençal

· French · Galician · Georgian · German (Standard · Alemannic · Colognian) · Greek · Greenlandic · Gujarati
· Haitian Creole · Hawaiian · Hebrew · Hindi · Hmong · Hungarian · Icelandic · Igbo · Indonesian · Inuktitut ·
Inupiaq · Irish · Isan · Italian (dialects) · Japanese · Kazakh · Khmer · Korean · Kurdish · Kyrgyz · Lakota ·
Lao · Latin · Latvian · Ligurian · Lithuanian · Lombard · Luxembourgish · Macedonian · Malagasy · Malay ·
Malayalam · Maltese · Manx · Māori · Marathi · Marshallese · Mauritian Creole · Mayan · Mongolian ·
Mirandese · Nahuatl · Navajo · Neapolitan · Nepali · Northern Thai · Norwegian · Occitan · Odia · Persian ·
Piedmontese · Polish · Portuguese · Punjabi · Quechua · Romanian · Romansh · Russian · Sanskrit ·
Sardinian · Scottish Gaelic · Serbo-Croatian · Shan · Sicilian · Slovak · Slovene · Spanish · Swahili · Swazi ·
Swedish · Sylheti · Tagalog · Tai Lue · Tajik · Tamil · Tatar · Telugu · Thai · Tibetan · Tigrinya · Turkish ·
Turkmen · Ukrainian · Urdu · Uzbek · Venetian · Vietnamese · Walloon · Welsh · West Frisian · Xhosa ·
Yiddish · Yoruba · Zhuang · Zulu
IPA conventions for English · English dialects · Wikipedia pronunciation respelling ·
Comparisons
Other English pronunciation respellings
Introductory guides Symbols · For English speakers · Manual of Style: Pronunciation

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key&oldid=1109867458"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key 5/5