IPA Symbols

The following provides a brief guide to IPA symbols used in English. The capitalized keywords are from J. C. Wells' Accents of English. The symbols correspond to the sounds of the underlined portions of the example words.

Consonants

The letters p, b, t, d, k, m, n, f, v, w, l, and z have the normal English sounds.

IPA	Example	IPA	Example	IPA	Example
θ	thick	ŋ	sing	r	rest
ð	this	j	yes	g	get (not gem)
ʃ	ashen	tʃ	chip	s	sit (not as)
ʒ	azure	dʒ	jut

Vowels

IPA	Example	IPA	Example	IPA	Example
æ	TRAP, BATH	e	FACE	ɚ	NURSE*
ɛ	DRESS	i	FLEECE	ɪr	NEAR
ɪ	KIT	aɪ	PRICE	ɛr	SQUARE
ʊ	FOOT	u	GOOSE	ɑr	START
ɑ	PALM, LOT, THOUGHT, CLOTH1	o	GOAT	ɔr	NORTH, FORCE
ə	STRUT2	ɔɪ	CHOICE	ʊr	CURE
		aʊ	MOUTH	n̩	eaten3
				l̩	bottle3
				m̩	bottom3

1. Some dialects may distinguish these sounds.
2. The pairs ə, ʌ (comma, STRUT) and ɚ, ɝ (letter, NURSE) can be considered allophones.
3. Syllabic. If your font doesn't place accents correctly, the vertical bar below may not be centered on the letter.

British Variants

IPA	Example	IPA	Example	IPA	Example
ɑ	BATH	ɜ	NURSE	ɑ	START
ɒ	LOT, CLOTH	ɪə	NEAR	ɔ	NORTH, FORCE, THOUGHT
əo	GOAT	ɛə	SQUARE	ʊə	CURE

Stress

Stress is marked before the affected syllable.

IPA	Example	IPA	Example
ˈ	primary stress mark	ˌ	secondary stress

IPA

The exact pronunciation of words may vary significantly according to the dialect of the speaker. A broad transcription is used here: eaten is rendered as /ˈitn̩/, not /ˈiːʔn̩/; in general, length marks (ː) are not indicated.