Thread by @MerriamWebster

This is such a good question. There actually isn't a "standard" phonetic transcription system for English (which is surprising). Dictionary companies come up with their own, which are inevitably similar to each other, with small differences.

#AskMW

Here is an actual honest-to-goodness more-than-you-need-to-know guide to pronunciation:

#AskMW

merriam-webster.com/assets/mw/stat…

Here's the thing: this system is idiosyncratic for English and is NOT the International Phonetic Alphabet, which is usually referred to as (a slightly less hoppy) "IPA."

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Int…

We have a guide for the symbols of IPA over at @MWforLearners. #AskMW

learnersdictionary.com/help/ipa

IPA was invented to represent fixed sounds. This is great when learning languages, but IPA has some problems if you grew up speaking English: some of the symbols can be deeply confusing.

For example: the symbol 'i' (lower-case 'i') stands for the sound /ee/.

#AskMW

In IPA, the symbol 'j' (lower-case 'j') stands for the sound of /y/ as in 'yes.'

So you can see that the "fixed sounds" of IPA are a problem for English speakers.

#AskMW

One advantage of the "dictionary" phonetic system is that your own accent can be used for any term, since the values of the sounds are not fixed. For example, you may or may not make a distinction in the vowels of the words "pin" and "pen." #AskMW

Here is a link to our pronunciation key WITH AUDIO for the (approximate) sounds. #AskMW

merriam-webster.com/help/pronuncia…