English IPA Chart — Symbols and Examples
What this chart covers
The symbols this site uses for English in two reference systems, General American and British RP-style. It is not the complete International Phonetic Alphabet, it does not claim that either system is the only way English is spoken, and it has no audio. Marks such as stress and length are listed separately and are not sounds.
Names and notes are drafts that have not been reviewed yet, so example words are not shown. Reviewed entries show their review date.
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Consonants
| Symbol | Name | General American | British RP-style | Notes | Examples | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | voiceless bilabial plosive | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| b | voiced bilabial plosive | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| t | voiceless alveolar plosive | Used | Used | Broad transcription: no flap or glottal-stop variants are written. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| d | voiced alveolar plosive | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| k | voiceless velar plosive | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɡ | voiced velar plosive | Used | Used | Written with the IPA letter ɡ (U+0261), not the keyboard letter g. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| f | voiceless labiodental fricative | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| v | voiced labiodental fricative | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| θ | voiceless dental fricative (theta) | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ð | voiced dental fricative (eth) | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| s | voiceless alveolar fricative | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| z | voiced alveolar fricative | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ʃ | voiceless postalveolar fricative (esh) | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ʒ | voiced postalveolar fricative (ezh) | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| h | voiceless glottal fricative | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| tʃ | voiceless postalveolar affricate | Used | Used | Two letters that count as one sound; inserted as one unit. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| dʒ | voiced postalveolar affricate | Used | Used | Two letters that count as one sound; inserted as one unit. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| m | bilabial nasal | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| n | alveolar nasal | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ŋ | velar nasal (eng) | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| l | alveolar lateral approximant | Used | Used | Broad transcription: “dark l” is written l. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| r | English r sound | Used | Used | This product writes the English r sound as r in both systems. It does not claim a trill, and RP linking or intrusive r is not added. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| j | palatal approximant | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| w | labial-velar approximant | Used | Used | — | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
Vowels and diphthongs
| Symbol | Name | General American | British RP-style | Notes | Examples | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | close front unrounded vowel | Used | Used | General American FLEECE. In RP-style it is the short weak vowel; FLEECE is iː. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| iː | close front unrounded vowel, long | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style FLEECE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɪ | near-close near-front unrounded vowel | Used | Used | KIT. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| e | close-mid front unrounded vowel | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style DRESS. General American writes DRESS as ɛ and uses e only inside eɪ. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɛ | open-mid front unrounded vowel | Used | Not used in this profile | General American DRESS. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| æ | near-open front unrounded vowel (ash) | Used | Used | TRAP. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɑ | open back unrounded vowel | Used | Not used in this profile | General American LOT and PALM. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɑː | open back unrounded vowel, long | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style PALM, START and BATH. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɒ | open back rounded vowel | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style LOT. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɔ | open-mid back rounded vowel | Used | Not used in this profile | General American THOUGHT; the data keeps the ɑ/ɔ difference where the source has it. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɔː | open-mid back rounded vowel, long | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style THOUGHT, NORTH and FORCE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ʊ | near-close near-back rounded vowel | Used | Used | FOOT. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| u | close back rounded vowel | Used | Used | General American GOOSE. In RP-style it is the short weak vowel; GOOSE is uː. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| uː | close back rounded vowel, long | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style GOOSE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ʌ | open-mid back unrounded vowel | Used | Used | STRUT. The General American data writes stressed STRUT as ə, so GA results do not contain ʌ. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ə | mid central vowel (schwa) | Used | Used | Unstressed vowels; in General American results also stressed STRUT. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɜː | open-mid central unrounded vowel, long | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style NURSE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɝ | open-mid central unrounded vowel, r-coloured | Used | Not used in this profile | General American NURSE. The GA data writes every r-coloured vowel as ɝ, stressed or not. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɚ | mid central vowel, r-coloured | Used | Not used in this profile | Unstressed r-coloured vowel in General American. The GA data writes ɝ instead, so GA results do not contain ɚ. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| eɪ | closing diphthong from e to ɪ | Used | Used | FACE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| aɪ | closing diphthong from a to ɪ | Used | Used | PRICE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɔɪ | closing diphthong from ɔ to ɪ | Used | Used | CHOICE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| oʊ | closing diphthong from o to ʊ | Used | Not used in this profile | General American GOAT. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| əʊ | closing diphthong from ə to ʊ | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style GOAT. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| aʊ | closing diphthong from a to ʊ | Used | Used | MOUTH. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ɪə | centring diphthong from ɪ to ə | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style NEAR. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| eə | centring diphthong from e to ə | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style SQUARE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ʊə | centring diphthong from ʊ to ə | Not used in this profile | Used | RP-style CURE. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
Marks
| Symbol | Name | General American | British RP-style | Notes | Examples | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ˈ | primary stress mark | Used | Used | Placed before the stressed syllable. A mark, not a sound. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ˌ | secondary stress mark | Used | Used | Placed before a syllable with secondary stress. A mark, not a sound. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| ː | length mark | Not used in this profile | Used | Follows a long vowel in RP-style notation. A mark, not a sound; General American does not use it. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |
| . | syllable break | Used | Used | Separates syllables where the data marks them. A mark, not a sound. | Not reviewed yet | Open keyboard |