International Phonetic Alphabet Sounds
Click IPA symbols for audio 
See also the IPA fonts page.
Consonants
Coarticulated consonants
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Labiovelar | Velarized alveolar lateral | Labialized palatal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Approximant | ʍ English Welsh w English Arabic French Italian Japanese Korean Portuguese Tagalog Ukrainian | ɫ Lithuanian Kurdish | ɥ Iaai (New Caledonia) Kurdish Tibetan Upper Sorbian (Germany) |
Non-pulmonic consonants
Vowels
| IPA vowel chart | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||
a vs. ä
Many well known languages, such as Spanish and Italian, have the vowel ä. However this vowel very is often simply written as a, so long as the language doesn't have true a, and so long as it is specified that a represents a "central low" vowel for the purpose of the document. This is a fairly normal practice among linguists, to avoid excessive diacritic usage. It may happen with other vowels, and even consonants, although it more common with vowels, and particularly common with this vowel.
IPA for English
Note: Diphthongs (vowels that are made up of two different vowel sounds) do not have their own dedicated audio recordings.
| IPA | examples |
|---|---|
| b | but, web, rubble |
| ʧ | chat, teach, nature |
| d | dot, idea, nod |
| f | fan, left, enough, photo |
| g | get, bag |
| h | ham |
| ʤ | joy, agile, age |
| k | cat, tack |
| l | left |
| m | man, animal, him |
| n | note, ant, pan |
| ŋ | singer, ring |
| p | pen, spin, top, apple |
| ɹ | run, very |
| s | set, list, ice |
| ʃ | ash, sure, ration |
| t | ton, butt |
| θ | thin, nothing, moth |
| ð | this, father, clothe |
| v | voice, navel |
| w | wet |
| j | yes |
| z | zoo, quiz, rose |
| ʒ | vision, treasure |
| IPA | examples | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British | General American | Canadian | Australian | New Zealand | |
| ɑː | ɑ | ɒ | ɐː | father, palm | |
| æ, a | æ | ɛ | bad, cat, ran | ||
| æɹ | ɛɹ, æɹ | ɛɹ | æɹ | ɛɹ | carry |
| eɪ, ɛi | eɪ | æe | day, pain | ||
| ɑː | ɑɹ | ɐː | arm, bard | ||
| ɛə, ɛː | ɛɹ, eɹ | ɛɹ | eː | eə | hair, there |
| ɛ | e | bed | |||
| ɛɹ | eɹ | merry | |||
| iː | i | iː | ease, see | ||
| ɪ | ɪ, i | ɘ | sit, city, bit | ||
| ɪ | i | city, very, ready | |||
| ɪ̈, ɨ | ə | ɘ | roses | ||
| ɪə, ɪː | ɪɹ, iɹ | ɪə, ɪː | iə | near, here, serious | |
| aɪ, ɑi | aɪ | aɪ, ʌɪ | ɑe | my, rice | |
| ɒ, ɔ | ɑ | ɒ | ɔ | ɒ, ɔ | not, wasp |
| əʊ | oʊ | əʉ | ɐʉ | no, go, hope | |
| ɔə, ɔː, oː | oɹ, ɔɹ | ɔɹ | oː | hoarse | |
| ɔː, oː | ɔ | ɒ | oː | law, caught | |
| ɔː, oː | ɔɹ | oː | horse | ||
| ɔɪ, oi | ɔɪ | oe | boy, noise | ||
| ʊ | put, foot | ||||
| ʊə, ɵː | ʊɹ | ʊə | ʉə | tour, tourism | |
| uː | u | ʉː | lose, soon, through | ||
| aʊ | aʊ, ʌʊ | æo | house, now | ||
| ʌ | ɐː | run, enough, up | |||
| ɜː | ɝ, əɹ | ɝ | ɜː | ɵː | fur, bird |
| ə | ɘ | about | |||
| ə | ɚ | ə | ɘ | winner, enter | |