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Key to pronunciation

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Key to pronunciation
The pronunciations given are those in use among educated urban speakers of standard English in
Britain and the United States. While avoiding strongly regionally or socially marked forms, they are
intended to include the most common variants for each word. The keywords given are to be
understood as pronounced in such speech.

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This key is to the pronunciations given in revised entries. For pronunciations in unrevised entries, see
this key.
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British English

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Consonants

Guide to the Historical Thesaurus

Symbol

Example
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as in

big /bg/

dig /dg/

judge /dd/

then /n/, bathe /be/

fig /fg/

go /g/

how /ha/

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yes /js/

Aspects of English

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keep /kip/, card /kd/

Historical Thesaurus of the OED

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leap /lip/

mine /mn/

nine /nn/

singing /s/, think /k/

Popular tags

finger /fg/

abbreviations A level Australian English

pine /pn/

run /rn/, hurry /hri/

see /si/, cease /sis/

shop /p/, dish /d/

tan /tan/

chop /tp/, ditch /dt/

thin /n/, path /p/

van /van/

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Key to pronunciation
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wear /w/, where /w/

zoo /zu/

vision /vn/, regime /reim/

Scots loch /lx/

(Welsh) penillion /pnn/, Llandaff /andaf/

Day
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In addition, the consonants l, m, and n can take on the function of a vowel in some unstressed
syllables. It should generally be clear when this interpretation is intended, but in cases of potential
ambiguity, the consonant symbol appears with a diacritic, as l , m and n, as e.g. maddle /madl/,
macromodelling /makrmdl /; macroseism /makrszm/, ransoming /ransm /; madden
/madn/, maddening/madn/.

Vowels and diphthongs

a

as in

trap /trap/, and some pronunciations of bath /ba/

mouth /ma/

start /stt/, palm /pm/, and some pronunciations of bath /b/

face /fes/

dress /drs/

square /skw/

another /n/

nurse /ns/

goat /gt/

happy /hapi/

fleece /flis/

kit /kt/, rabbit /rabt/

near /n/

force /fs/, north /n/, thought /t/

choice /ts/

lot /lt/, cloth /kl/

goose /gus/

foot /ft/

cure /kj/, jury /dri/

strut /strt/

price /prs/

fin de sicle /f d sjkl/

bon mot /b m/, rapprochement /rprm/

represents free variation between // and //

represents free variation between // and //

Stress
The symbol at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary
stress, as in the first syllable of cerebrate /srbret/ .

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The symbol at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary
stress, as in the first syllable of cerebration /srbren/.

The symbol at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable may be pronounced with either
primary or secondary stress, as in the first syllable of cerebrospinal /srbrspnl/.

U.S. English
Consonants
The consonants of U.S. English are essentially the same as those used in British English, but they
have a different distribution. In particular:

After a vowel, U.S. English can have /r/ regardless of the sound which follows, whereas British English
retains the /r/ only when it is followed by a vowel.

Compare U.S. mar /mr/, marring /mr/ with British mar /m/, marring /mr/
Between vowels (except at the start of a stressed syllable) U.S. English has /d/ where British English
has /t/.

Compare U.S. butter /bdr/, and waiting /wed/ (as against wait /wet/) with
British butter /bt/, waiting /wet/, wait /wet/
U.S. speakers are more likely than British speakers to distinguish between wear (with /w/) and where
(with either /w/ or /hw/).

Vowels and diphthongs

a

as in

price /pras/

mouth /ma/

lot /lt/, palm /pm/, start /strt/, and some pronunciations of cloth /cl/, thought /
t/

trap /trp/, bath /b/

face /fes/

dress /drs/, square /skw()r/, marry /mri/

strut /strt/, nurse /nrs/, another /nr/, rabbit /rbt/

fleece /flis/, happy /hpi/

kit /kt/, near /n()r/

goat /got/

north /nr/, and some pronunciations of cloth /cl/, thought /t/

choice /ts/

goose /gus/

foot /ft/, cure /kj()r/

rapprochement /rprm/, fin de sicle /f dsjkl/

bon mot /bmo/

represents free variation between // and //

represents free variation between // and //

Where //, //, //, or // is followed by /r/, an intervening // is often inserted, e.g. near /n()r/, square

/skw()r/, force /f()rs/, cure /kj()r/.

Stress
The symbol at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary
stress, as in the first syllable of cerebrate /srbret/.

The symbol at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary
stress, as in the first syllable of cerebration /srbren/.

The symbol at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable may be pronounced with either
primary or secondary stress, as in the first syllable of cerebrospinal /srbrospanl/.

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