Phonetic notation of the American Heritage Dictionary

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (abbreviated AHD) uses a phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet to transcribe the pronunciation of spoken English. It and similar respelling systems, such as those used by the Merriam-Webster and Random House dictionaries, are familiar to US schoolchildren.

The following tables show the AHD representations of English phonemes,[1] along with the IPA equivalents as used on Wikipedia.

Vowels

In general, long vowels are marked with a macron, and short vowels with a breve. A circumflex may also be used to indicate a pre-rhotic vowel. Usage of other symbols vary.

AHD IPA Example
ă æ bat
ā eɪ bait
âr ɛər bear
ä ɑː father
ĕ ɛ bet
ē iː beat
ĭ ɪ bit
ī aɪ bite
îr ɪər beer
ŏ ɒ bot
ō oʊ boat
ô ɔː bought
ôr ɔːr north
oi ɔɪ boy
o͝o ʊ book
o͞o uː boot
yo͞o juː fuse
ou aʊ bout
ŭ ʌ butt
ûr ɜːr bird
ə ə about
ər ər butter
Foreign
œ ø French feu, German schön
œ French œuf, German zwölf
ü y French tu, German über
◌N ◌̃ French bon

Consonants
AHD IPA Example
b b buy
ch tʃ China
d d dye
f f fight
g ɡ guy
h h high
hw hw why
j dʒ jive
k k kite
l l lie
əl bottle
m m my
n n nigh
ən button
ng ŋ sing
p p pie
r r rye
s s sigh
sh ʃ shy
t t tie
th θ thigh
th ð thy
v v vie
w w wide
y j yacht
z z zoo
zh ʒ vision
əm əm rhythm
Foreign
KH ç German ich
x German ach, Scottish loch

Suprasegmentals

Stress is indicated by a prime character following stressed syllables. The character is in boldface when it indicates primary stress.

AHD IPA Description
◌′ ˈ◌ Primary stress
◌′ ˌ◌ Secondary stress
- . Syllable division (omitted after stressed syllables)
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gollark: ...
gollark: I mean, you can escape some special characters (not magically all of them at once, that would be moronically stupid), but the solution is to just use things which either don't require stuff to be escaped or handle it sensibly and securely for you.
gollark: That is not a solution.
gollark: Not even potatOS has such power.

See also

References
  1. Houghton Mifflin, American Heritage Dictionary pronunciation key (PDF), retrieved 2016-01-21.
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