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Here is a basic key to the symbols of theInternational Phonetic Alphabet. For the smaller set of symbols that is sufficient for English, seeHelp:IPA/English. Several rare IPA symbols are not included; these are found in themain IPA article or on theextensive IPA chart. For the Manual of Style guideline for pronunciation, seeWikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation.
For each IPA symbol, an English example is given where possible; here "RP" stands forReceived Pronunciation. The foreign languages that are used to illustrate additional sounds are primarily the ones most likely to be familiar to English speakers:French,Standard German andSpanish. For symbols not covered by those, recourse is taken to the populous languagesStandard Chinese,Hindustani,Arabic andRussian. For sounds still not covered, other well-analyzed languages are used, such asSwahili,Zulu andTurkish.
The left-hand column displays the individual symbols in square brackets ([a]ⓘ). Click on the speaker icon to hear the sound; click on the symbol itself for a dedicated article with a more complete description and examples from multiple languages. Consonant sounds are spoken once followed by a vowel and once between vowels (e.g.[f]ⓘ "fa, a-fa").
If the characters do not display, you may need to install a supporting font. Free fonts with good IPA support includeGentium (serif) andAndika (sans-serif).
The symbols are arranged by similarity to letters of theLatin alphabet. Symbols which do not resemble any Latin letter are placed at the end, the others section.
| Symbol | Examples | Description |
|---|---|---|
| A | ||
| [a]ⓘ | Modern RP cat, GermanMann, Frenchgare | The RP vowel is often transcribed with ⟨æ⟩ for historical reasons. For many English speakers, the first part of theow sound incow. |
| [ä]ⓘ | Mandarin 他tā, American Englishfather, Spanishcasa, Frenchpatte | |
| [ɐ]ⓘ | RPcut, GermanKaiserslautern | (In transcriptions of English,[ɐ] is usually written ⟨ʌ⟩.) |
| [ɑ]ⓘ | RPfather, Frenchpâte, Dutchbad | |
| [ɑ̃]ⓘ | FrenchCaen,sans,temps | Nasalized[ɑ]. |
| [ɒ]ⓘ | Canadian Englishlot, Persianفارسی /fârsi | Like[ɑ], but with the lips slightly rounded. |
| [ʌ]ⓘ | American Englishcut | Like[ɔ], but without the lips being rounded. (When ⟨ʌ⟩ is used for English, it may really be[ɐ] or[ɜ].) |
| [æ]ⓘ | GAcat | |
| B | ||
| [b]ⓘ | Englishbabble | |
| [ɓ]ⓘ | Swahilibwana | Like a[b] said with a gulp. Seeimplosive consonants. |
| [β]ⓘ | Spanishabril, Kinyarwandaabana "children", Korean 무궁화 [muɡuŋβwa̠]mugunghwa | Like[b], but with the lips not quite closed. |
| [ʙ]ⓘ | Niassimbi [siʙi] "lower jaw" | Sputtering. |
| C | ||
| [c]ⓘ | Turkishkebap "kebab", Czech stín "shadow", Greekκαι "and" | Between Englishtune (RP) andcute. Sometimes used instead for[tʃ] in languages like Hindi. |
| [ç]ⓘ | GermanIch | More of a [j]-coloration (more palatal) than[x]. Some English speakers have a similar sound inhuge. This sound can be produced by whispering loudly the word "ye" as in "Hear ye!". |
| [ɕ]ⓘ | Mandarin先xiān, Polishściana | More [j]-like than[ʃ]; something like Englishshe. |
| [ɔ]ⓘ | see underO | |
| D | ||
| [d]ⓘ | Englishdad | |
| [ɗ]ⓘ | SwahiliDodoma | Like[d] said with a gulp. |
| [ɖ]ⓘ | American Englishharder | Like[d] with the tongue curled or pulled back. |
| [ð]ⓘ | Englishthe, bathe | |
| [dz]ⓘ | Englishadds, Italianzero | |
| [dʒ]ⓘ | Englishjudge | |
| [dʑ]ⓘ | Polishniedźwiedź "bear" | Like[dʒ], but with more of a [j]-sound. |
| [ɖʐ]ⓘ | Polishdżem "jam" | Like[dʒ] with the tongue curled or pulled back. |
| E | ||
| [e]ⓘ | Scottish Englishday, Australian Englishbet, Spanishfe; Frenchclé, GermanKlee | Similar to American Englishhey, before the y sets in. |
| [ɘ]ⓘ | Australian Englishbird | |
| [ə]ⓘ | Englishabove, Hindi अब[əb](ab) "now" | |
| [ɚ]ⓘ | American Englishrunner | |
| [ɛ]ⓘ | British, Irish, North American Englishbet, New Zealand Englishbat | |
| [ɛ̃]ⓘ | FrenchSaint-Étienne,vin,main | Nasalized[ɛ]. |
| [ɜ]ⓘ | RPbird (long) | |
| [ɝ]ⓘ | American Englishbird | |
| F | ||
| [f]ⓘ | Englishfun | |
| [ɟ]ⓘ | see underJ | |
| [ʄ]ⓘ | see underJ | |
| G | ||
| [ɡ]ⓘ | Englishgag | (Should look like . Not different from a Latin "g") |
| [ɠ]ⓘ | SwahiliUganda | Like[ɡ] said with a gulp. |
| [ɢ]ⓘ | Like[ɡ], but further back, in the throat. Found inPersian and some Arabic dialects for/q/, as inMuammar Gaddafi. | |
| [ʒ]ⓘ | see underZ | Englishbeige. |
| H | ||
| [h]ⓘ | American Englishhouse | |
| [ɦ]ⓘ | Englishahead, when said quickly. | |
| [ʰ] | The extra puff of air in Englishtop[tʰɒp] compared tostop [stɒp], or to French or Spanish[t]. | |
| [ħ]ⓘ | Arabic مُحَمَّدMuḥammad | Far down in the throat, like[h], but stronger. |
| [ʜ]ⓘ | Iraqi Arabicحَي [ʜaj] "alive" | Corresponds to /ħ/ (ح) in Standard Arabic. |
| [ɥ]ⓘ | see underY | |
| [ɮ]ⓘ | see underL | |
| I | ||
| [i]ⓘ | Englishsea, Frenchville, SpanishValladolid | |
| [ɪ]ⓘ | British, Irish, North American Englishsit, New Zealand Englishset | |
| [ɨ]ⓘ | Russian ты "you" | Often used for unstressed Englishroses. |
| J | ||
| [j]ⓘ | Englishyes, hallelujah, GermanJunge | |
| [ʲ] | In RussianЛенин[ˈlʲenʲɪn] | Indicates a sound is more [j]-like. |
| [ʝ]ⓘ | Spanishcayo (some dialects) | Like[j], but stronger. |
| [ɟ]ⓘ | Turkishgör "see", Czechdíra "hole" | Between Englishdew (RP) andargue. Sometimes used instead for[dʒ] in languages like Hindi. |
| [ʄ]ⓘ | Swahilijambo | Like[ɟ] said with a gulp. |
| K | ||
| [k]ⓘ | Englishkick,skip | |
| L | ||
| [l]ⓘ | Englishleaf | |
| [ɫ]ⓘ | Englishwool Russian малый[ˈmɑɫɨj] "small" | "Dark" el. |
| [ɬ]ⓘ | Welshllwyd[ɬʊɪd] "grey" Zuluhlala[ɬaːla] "sit" | By touching the roof of mouth with the tongue and giving a quick breath out. Found inWelsh placenames likeLlangollen andLlanelli andNelson Mandela's Xhosa nameRolihlahla. |
| [ɭ]ⓘ | Like[l] with the tongue curled or pulled back. | |
| [ɺ]ⓘ | A flapped[l], like[l] and[ɾ] said together. | |
| [ɮ]ⓘ | Zuludla "eat" | Rather like[l] and[ʒ], or[l] and[ð], said together. |
| [ʟ]ⓘ | ||
| M | ||
| [m]ⓘ | Englishmime | |
| [ɱ]ⓘ | Englishsymphony | Like[m], but the lips touch the teeth as they do in[f]. |
| [ɯ]ⓘ | see underW | |
| [ʍ]ⓘ | see underW | |
| N | ||
| [n]ⓘ | Englishnun | |
| [ŋ]ⓘ | Englishsing, Māoringa | |
| [ɲ]ⓘ | SpanishPeña, Frenchchampagne | Rather like Englishcanyon (/nj/ said quickly). |
| [ɳ]ⓘ | Hindi वरुण[ʋəruɳ]Varuna | Like[n] with the tongue curled or pulled back. |
| [ɴ]ⓘ | Castilian SpanishDon Juan[doɴˈχwan] | Like[ŋ], but further back, in the throat. |
| O | ||
| [o]ⓘ | Modern RP, Australian and New Zealand Englishcaught (long) Spanishno, Frencheau, GermanBoden | Somewhat reminiscent of American Englishno. The RP vowel is usually transcribed with ⟨ɔː⟩ for historical reasons. |
| [ɔ]ⓘ | Modern RP, Australian and New Zealand Englishcot GermanOldenburg, FrenchGaronne | The RP vowel is usually transcribed with ⟨ɒ⟩ for historical reasons. |
| [ɔ̃]ⓘ | FrenchLyon,son | Nasalized[ɔ]. |
| [ø]ⓘ | New Zealand Englishnurse, Frenchfeu,bœufs, GermanGoethe | Like[e], but with the lips rounded like[o]. |
| [ɵ]ⓘ | Modern RPfoot, Dutchhut, Frenchje, Swedishdum | Halfway between[o] and[ø]. Similar to[ʊ] but with the tongue slightly more down and front. The RP vowel is typically transcribed with ⟨ʊ⟩, the Dutch vowel is often transcribed with ⟨ʏ⟩ or ⟨œ⟩, whereas the French vowel is typically transcribed with ⟨ə⟩. |
| [œ]ⓘ | Frenchbœuf,seul, GermanGöttingen | Like[ɛ], but with the lips rounded like[ɔ]. |
| [œ̃]ⓘ | Frenchbrun,parfum | Nasalized[œ]. |
| [ɶ]ⓘ | ||
| [θ]ⓘ | see underOthers | |
| [ɸ]ⓘ | see underOthers | |
| P | ||
| [p]ⓘ | Englishpip | |
| Q | ||
| [q]ⓘ | Arabic قُرْآنQur’ān | Like[k], but further back, in the throat. |
| R | ||
| [r]ⓘ | Spanishperro, Scottish Englishborrow | "Rolled R". (Often used for other rhotics, such as English[ɹ], when there's no ambiguity.) |
| [ɾ]ⓘ | Spanishpero, Tagalogdaliri, Malaykabar, American Englishkitty/kiddie | Like a “rolled R”, except the tongue flaps only once. |
| [ʀ]ⓘ | Dutchrood and Germanrot (some speakers) | A trill in the back of the throat. Found for /r/ in some conservative registers of French. |
| [ɽ]ⓘ | Urdu ساڑی[saːɽiː] "saree" | Like flapped[ɾ], but with the tongue curled back. |
| [ɹ]ⓘ | most accents of Englishborrow | |
| [ɻ]ⓘ | Tamil புழுpuḻu "worm", Mandarin 人民日报RénmínRìbào "People's Daily", American Englishborrow, butter | Like[ɹ], but with the tongue curled or pulled back, as pronounced by many English speakers. |
| [ʁ]ⓘ | FrenchParis, GermanRiemann (some dialects) | Said back in the throat, but not trilled. |
| S | ||
| [s]ⓘ | Englishsass | |
| [ʃ]ⓘ | Englishshoe | |
| [ʂ]ⓘ | Mandarin 少林(Shàolín), Russian Пушкин(Pushkin) | Acoustically similar to[ʃ], but with the tongue curled or pulled back. |
| T | ||
| [t]ⓘ | Englishtot, stop | |
| [ʈ]ⓘ | Hindi टमाटर[ʈəmaːʈəɾ](ṭamāṭar) "tomato" | Like[t], but with the tongue curled or pulled back. |
| [ts]ⓘ | Englishcats, Russianцарьtsar | |
| [tʃ]ⓘ | Englishchurch | |
| [tɕ]ⓘ | Mandarin 北京 Běijīng (listenⓘ), Polishciebie "you" | Like[tʃ], but with more of a [j]-sound. |
| [tʂ]ⓘ | Mandarin 真正zhēnzhèng, Polishczas | Like[tʃ] with the tongue curled or pulled back. |
| U | ||
| [u]ⓘ | American Englishfood, Frenchvous "you", GermanSchumacher | |
| [ʊ]ⓘ | American Englishfoot, GermanBundesrepublik | |
| [ʉ]ⓘ | Modern RP, Australian Englishfood (long) | Like[ɨ], but with the lips rounded as for[u]. |
| [ʋ]ⓘ | see underV | |
| [ɥ]ⓘ | see underY | |
| [ɯ]ⓘ | see underW | |
| V | ||
| [v]ⓘ | Englishverve | |
| [ʋ]ⓘ | Hindi वरुण[ʋəɾʊɳə] "Varuna" | Between[v] and[w]. Used by some Germans and Russians forv/w, and by some speakers of British English forr. |
| [ɤ]ⓘ | see underY | |
| [ɣ]ⓘ | see underY | |
| [ʌ]ⓘ | see underA | |
| W | ||
| [w]ⓘ | Englishwow | |
| [ʷ] | Indicates a sound has lip rounding, as in Englishrain | |
| [ʍ]ⓘ | what (some dialects) | like[h] and[w] said together |
| [ɯ]ⓘ | Turkishkayık "caïque",Scottish Gaelicgaol | Like[u], but with the lips flat; something like[ʊ]. |
| [ɰ]ⓘ | Spanishagua | Like [w], but with the lips flat. |
| X | ||
| [x]ⓘ | Scottish Englishloch, GermanBach, Russianхлеб[xlʲep] "bread", Spanishjoven | between[k] and[h] |
| [χ]ⓘ | northern Standard DutchScheveningen, Castilian SpanishDonJuan[doɴˈχwan] | Like[x], but further back, in the throat. Some German and Arabic speakers have[χ] for[x]. |
| Y | ||
| [y]ⓘ | Frenchrue, GermanBülow | Like[i], but with the lips rounded as for[u]. |
| [ʏ]ⓘ | Scottish Englishfoot, GermanDüsseldorf | Like[ɪ], but with the lips rounded as for[ʊ]. |
| [ɣ]ⓘ | Arabic غَالِيghālī and Swahilighali "expensive", Spanishsuegro | Sounds rather like French[ʁ] or between[ɡ] and[h]. |
| [ɤ]ⓘ | Mandarin 河南Hénán,Scottish Gaelictaigh | Like[o] but without the lips rounded, something like a cross of[ʊ] and[ʌ]. |
| [ʎ]ⓘ | Italiantagliatelle, Portuguesemulher | Like[l], but more [j]-like. Rather like Englishvolume. |
| [ɥ]ⓘ | Frenchlui | Like[j] and[w] said together. |
| Z | ||
| [z]ⓘ | Englishzoo | |
| [ʒ]ⓘ | Englishvision, Frenchjournal | |
| [ʑ]ⓘ | old-styled Russian позже[ˈpoʑːe] "later", Polishźle | More [j]-like than[ʒ], something likebeigey. |
| [ʐ]ⓘ | Russianжир "fat" | Like[ʒ] with the tongue curled or pulled back. |
| [ɮ]ⓘ | see underL | |
| Others | ||
| [θ]ⓘ | Englishthigh, bath | |
| [ɸ]ⓘ | Japanese 富士[ɸɯdʑi]Fuji, Māori[ˌɸaːɾeːˈnuiː]wharenui | Like[p], but with the lips not quite touching |
| [ʔ]ⓘ | Englishuh-oh, Hawai‘i, Germandie Angst | The 'glottal stop', a catch in the breath. For some people, found inbutton[ˈbʌʔn̩], or between vowels across words:Deus ex machina[ˌdeɪəsˌʔɛksˈmɑːkɪnə]; in some nonstandard dialects, ina apple[əˈʔæpl̩]. |
| [ʕ]ⓘ | Arabic عَرَبِيّʻarabī /ʕarabī "Arabic" | A light, voiced sound deep in the throat, articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx (back of the throat). |
| [ǀ]ⓘ | Englishtsk-tsk! ortut-tut!, Zuluicici "earring" | (The English click used for disapproval.) Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including[kǀ],[ɡǀ],[ŋǀ]. The Zimbabwean MPNcube has this click in his name, as didCetshwayo. |
| [ǁ]ⓘ | Englishtchick! tchick!, Zuluixoxo "frog" | (The English click used to urge on a horse.) Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including[kǁ],[ɡǁ],[ŋǁ]. Found in the name of theXhosa. |
| [ǃ]ⓘ | Zuluiqaqa "polecat" | (The English click used to imitate the trotting of a horse.) A hollow popping sound, like a cork pulled from a bottle. Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including[kǃ],[ɡǃ],[ŋǃ]. |
| [ʘ]ⓘ | ǂ’Amkoeʘoa "two" | Like a kissing sound. |
| [ǂ]ⓘ | Khoekhoeǂgā-amǃnâ [ǂàʔám̀ᵑǃã̀] "to put in the mouth" | Like an imitation of a chewing sound. |
Several marks can be added above, below, before or after letters. These are here shown on a carrier letter such as the vowela. A more complete list is given atInternational Phonetic Alphabet § Diacritics and prosodic notation.
| Symbol | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Signs above a letter | ||
| [ã] | Frenchvin blanc[vɛ̃blɑ̃]ⓘ'white wine' | Anasal vowel, as with a Texas twang |
| [ä] | Portuguesevá[vä] "go" | Acentral vowel pronounced with the tongue position in the middle of the mouth; neither forward nor back |
| [ă] | Englishpolice[pə̆ˈliˑs] | Anextra-short speech sound (usually a vowel) |
| Signs below a letter | ||
| [a̯] | Englishcow[kʰaʊ̯],koi[kʰɔɪ̯] | This vowel does not form a syllable of its own, but runs into the vowel next to it. (In English, the diacritic is generally left off:[kaʊ].) |
| [n̥] | Englishboy [b̥ɔɪ̯],doe [d̥oʊ̯] (see also) | Sounds like a loud whisper;[n̥] is like a whispered breath through the nose.[l̥] is found in TibetanLhasa. |
| [n̩] | Englishbutton | A consonant without a vowel (English[n̩] is often transcribed/ən/.) |
| [d̪] | Spanishdos, Frenchdeuxⓘ | The tongue touches the teeth more than it does in English. |
| Signs next to a letter | ||
| [kʰ] | Englishcome | Aspirated consonant, pronounced with a puff of air. Similarly[tʰpʰtsʰtʃʰtɕʰ]. |
| [k’] | Zuluukuza "come" | Ejective. Like a popped[k], pushed from the throat. Similarly[tʼpʼqʼtʃʼtsʼtɬʼ]. |
| [aː] | Englishshh![ʃː] | Long. Often used with English vowels or diphthongs:Mayo/ˈmeːoː/ for[ˈmeɪ̯ɜʊ̯],etc. |
| [aˑ] | RPcaught[ˈkʰoˑt] | Semi-long. (Although the vowel is different, this is also longer thancot[ˈkʰɔt].) |
| [ˈa] | pronunciation [pɹ̥əʊ̯ˌnɐnsiˈeɪʃn̩] | Main stress. The mark denotes the stress of thefollowing syllable. |
| [ˌa] | Weaker stress. The mark denotes the stress of thefollowing syllable. | |
| [.] | Englishcourtship[ˈkʰɔrt.ʃɪp] | Syllable break (this is often redundant and therefore left off; for "courtship", it contrasts with "core chip"[ˈkʰɔr.t͡ʃɪp]) |
Two types of brackets are commonly used to enclose transcriptions in the IPA:
A fourth kind of bracket is occasionally seen:
Lastly,
IPAtypeface support is increasing, and is now included in several typefaces such as theTimes New Roman versions that come with various recent computeroperating systems.Diacritics are not always properly rendered, however. IPA typefaces that are freely available online includeGentium, several from theSIL (such asCharis SIL, andDoulos SIL),Dehuti,DejaVu Sans, andTITUS Cyberbit, which are allfreely available; as well as commercial typefaces such as Brill, available fromBrill Publishers, andLucida Sans Unicode andArial Unicode MS, shipping with variousMicrosoft products. These all include several ranges of characters in addition to the IPA. ModernWeb browsers generally do not need any configuration to display these symbols, provided that a typeface capable of doing so is available to the operating system.
Particularly, the following symbols may be shown improperly depending on your font:
Registered users can specify their own font for IPA text by editingtheir user stylesheet. They can also edittheir global stylesheet, which works across all Wikimedia projects. For instance, the following code would cause IPA to be displayed in the fontCharis SIL:
.IPA{font-family:"Charis SIL";}
Online IPA keyboard utilities are available and they cover a range of IPA symbols and diacritics:
ForiOS there are free IPA keyboard layouts, e.g.IPA Phonetic Keyboard.
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