Pronunciation Guide

This site uses two systems for name pronunciations: basic, which is a rough guide, and IPA, which is more exact. IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) pronunciations can be identified by the /slashes/ surrounding them.

As of yet, most names do not have IPA pronunciations. The pronunciations listed at a name's entry can be clicked for more details. User-submitted names may or may not adhere to these standards.

Basic Pronunciations

Dashes are used to separate syllables. Stressed syllables are written in CAPITALS.

Consonants
Bas in bed
CHas in cheek (tsh)
Das in dam
DHas in then
Fas in fake
Gas in give
GHas in Scottish laghail
Has in hen
Jas in jump (dzh)
Kas in cat
KHas in Scottish loch
Las in lamp
Mas in maze
Nas in not
NGas in fling, sink
Pas in pain
Ras in right *
Sas in side
SHas in shine
Tas in top
THas in thin
Vas in very
Was in water
Yas in yeti
Zas in zebra
ZHas in azure, vision
Vowels
Aas in bat, can
AHas in pot, con **
AWas in bought, sawn **
AYas in bait, cane
E, EHas in bet, care
EEas in beet, keen
Ias in bit, kin
IEas in bite, kind
Oas in boat, cone
OIas in boy, coin
OOas in boot, soon
OWas in bout, gown
Uas in but, sun
UIas in Dutch huis
UUas in French feu
UWas in put, took
UYas in French rue
əas in about
Other symbols
:preceding vowel is long (drawn out)
guttural fricative
glottal stop
Hpreceding consonant is aspirated
Npreceding vowel is nasalized
Tepenthetic t
Ypreceding sound is palatalized
əfollowing consonant is syllabic

* R is used to represent several different r-like sounds. For further clarification the following may be used: guttural RH (as in French riche); trilled RR (as in Spanish rojo); or tapped (as in Spanish caro).

** Many English speakers pronounce AH and AW the same

IPA Pronunciations

These pronunciations are surrounded by /slashes/. Periods are used to separate syllables. Stressed syllables are preceded by a ˈ symbol.

Consonants
bvoiced bilabial stop
ɓvoiced bilabial implosive
cvoiceless palatal stop
çvoiceless palatal fricative
ɕvoiceless alveolo-palatal fricative
dvoiced alveolar stop
ɖvoiced retroflex plosive
ɗvoiced alveolar implosive
ðvoiced dental fricative
fvoiceless labiodental fricative
gvoiced velar stop
ɡvoiced velar plosive
ɢvoiced uvular plosive
ɠvoiced velar implosive
ɣvoiced velar fricative
hvoiceless glottal fricative
ħvoiceless pharyngeal fricative
ɦvoiced glottal fricative
ɧvoiceless multiple-place fricative
jvoiced palatal approximant
ʝvoiced palatal fricative
ɟvoiced palatal plosive
ʄvoiced palatal implosive
kvoiceless velar stop
lalveolar lateral approximant
ɫvelarized alveolar lateral approximant
ɬvoiceless alveolar lateral fricative
ɭretroflex lateral approximant
ɮvoiced alveolar lateral fricative
ʎpalatal lateral approximant
mbilabial nasal
ɱlabiodental nasal
nalveolar nasal
ɴuvular nasal
ɲpalatal nasal
ɳretroflex nasal
ŋvoiced velar nasal
pvoiceless bilabial stop
ɸvoiceless bilabial fricative
qvoiceless uvular stop
ralveolar trill
ʀuvular trill
ɹalveolar approximant
ɺalveolar lateral flap
ɻretroflex approximant
ɽretroflex flap
ɾalveolar tap
ʁvoiced uvular fricative
svoiceless alveolar sibilant
ʂvoiceless retroflex fricative
ʃvoiceless postalveolar fricative
tvoiceless alveolar stop
ʈvoiceless retroflex plosive
ɥlabial-palatal approximant
ɰvelar approximant
vvoiced labiodental fricative
ʋlabiodental approximant
wvoiced labio-velar approximant
ʍvoiceless labiovelar approximant
xvoiceless velar fricative
zvoiced alveolar sibilant
ʐvoiced retroflex fricative
ʑvoiced alveolo-palatal fricative
ʒvoiced postalveolar fricative
ʔglottal stop
ʕvoiced pharyngeal fricative
βvoiced bilabial fricative
θvoiceless dental fricative
χvoiceless uvular fricative
Vowels
aopen front unrounded vowel
æraised open front unrounded vowel
ɐnear-open central vowel
ɑopen back unrounded vowel
ɒopen back rounded vowel
eclose-mid front unrounded vowel
əmid central vowel
mid central vowel
ɛopen-mid front unrounded vowel
ɘclose-mid central unrounded vowel
ɚrhotacized mid central vowel
ɜopen-mid central unrounded vowel
ɝrhotacized open-mid central unrounded vowel
ɞopen-mid central rounded vowel
ɤclose-mid back unrounded vowel
iclose front unrounded vowel
ɪnear-close near-front unrounded vowel
ɨclose central unrounded vowel
oclose-mid back rounded vowel
œfront open-mid rounded vowel
ɶopen front rounded vowel
øfront close-mid rounded vowel
ɔopen-mid back rounded vowel
ɵclose-mid central rounded vowel
uclose back rounded vowel
ʉclose central rounded vowel
ɯclose back unrounded vowel
ʊnear-close near-back vowel
ʌopen-mid back unrounded vowel
yclose front rounded vowel
ʏnear-close near-front rounded vowel
near-close central unrounded vowel
Symbols and Modifiers
.syllable break
'primary stress
linking (absence of a break)
ˌsecondary stress
|minor (foot) break
ːlength mark
ˑhalf-length mark
˥extra high tone
˦high tone
˧mid tone
˨low tone
˩extra low tone
˪yin departing tone
˫yang departing tone
◌᷄᷄macron-acute tone
◌᷅grave-macron tone
◌᷆macron-grave tone
◌᷇acute-macron tone
¹Swedish tone 1
²Swedish tone 2
ˠvelarized
ʰaspirated
ʱbreathy-voice-aspirated
ʲpalatalized
òlow tone
óhigh tone
ôfalling tone
õnasalized
ōmid tone
ŏextra-short
voiceless (use if character has descender)
őextra high tone
ǒrising tone
ȍextra low tone
not audibly released
less rounded
raised
lowered
advanced
retracted
alveolar
voiceless
syllabic
dental
non-syllabic
creaky voiced
retracted
velarized or pharyngealized
apical
laminal
mid-centralized
labial spreading
ʷlabialized
ˀglottal stop
ʼejective
ˤpharyngealized mark
compressed rounding