International Phonetic Alphabet | IPA Symbols & Pronunciation

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a standardized system of symbols designed for transcribing the sounds of all languages worldwide. Designed by the International Phonetic Association, it aims to provide precise and uniform phonetic transcription for every language. This page includes not only commonly used consonant and vowel symbols but also essential diacritics and suprasegmental markers, making it convenient for linguistics researchers, language learners, and dictionary compilers to quickly reference and use. Below is a detailed introduction to the technical parameters and pronunciation features of each phonetic symbol by category.

🔤 Consonants (Pulmonic)

p is called the voiceless bilabial plosive, formed by closing both lips and suddenly releasing airflow—a voiceless consonant commonly found as the initial sound in English "spin" (unaspirated). Its Unicode is U+0070, and the HTML entity is p. Note that in Mandarin Chinese, this sound typically comes with strong aspiration and can be narrowly transcribed as [pʰ].

b is called the voiced bilabial plosive, with the same articulation as p but with vocal cord vibration. In Mandarin Chinese, there is no strict voiced b; this symbol is often used for broad transcription of the initial in "巴" (which is actually a voiceless unaspirated plosive [p]). Its Unicode is U+0062, and the HTML entity is b. It is a true voiced sound in languages like English and French.

t is called the voiceless alveolar plosive, formed by placing the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge—it is the initial sound in English "stop" (unaspirated). Its Unicode is U+0074, and the HTML entity is t. Mandarin t is also aspirated and narrowly transcribed as [tʰ]. In English, word-initial t often accompanies aspiration as well.

d is called the voiced alveolar plosive, same place as t but with vocal cord vibration. It is commonly used in broad transcription for the initial of Mandarin "大" (actually voiceless unaspirated [t]). Its Unicode is U+0064, and the HTML entity is d. True voiced d is found in English "day," Japanese "だ," and other languages.

k is called the voiceless velar plosive, formed by the back of the tongue against the soft palate—as in English "skip" (unaspirated). Its Unicode is U+006B, and the HTML entity is k. In Mandarin, it is aspirated [kʰ], while the initial of "哥" is the corresponding unaspirated voiceless [k], often broadly transcribed with the symbol [ɡ].

ɡ is called the voiced velar plosive, same place as k but with vocal cord vibration, like the first sound in English "go." Its Unicode is U+0261, and the HTML entity is ɡ. Note that printed forms often use a double-story g glyph to distinguish it from the single-story variant. In Mandarin, this symbol is often used for broad transcription of the initial in "哥" (actually voiceless unaspirated [k]).

f is called the voiceless labiodental fricative, formed by the lower lip touching the upper teeth, as in English "fish." Its Unicode is U+0066, and the HTML entity is f. In languages like Japanese, this sound is often confused with the bilabial fricative [ɸ] and requires careful distinction.

v is called the voiced labiodental fricative, corresponding to f but with vocal cord vibration, like the first sound in English "voice." Its Unicode is U+0076, and the HTML entity is v. This sound does not exist in Mandarin and is a common difficulty for many Chinese native speakers learning English.

s is called the voiceless alveolar fricative, formed by the tongue tip approaching the alveolar ridge, like in English "see." Its Unicode is U+0073, and the HTML entity is s. In Spanish, this sound is often apical, with a slightly more retracted articulation than in English.

z is called the voiced alveolar fricative, corresponding to s but with vocal cord vibration, like the first sound in English "zoo." Its Unicode is U+007A, and the HTML entity is z. It is common in Chinese dialects, such as the initial of "从" in Shanghainese, which is a true voiced z.

ʃ is called the voiceless postalveolar fricative, formed by the tongue approaching the front of the palate, like the first sound in English "she." Its Unicode is U+0283, and the HTML entity is ʃ. This symbol is also often called esh.

ʒ is called the voiced postalveolar fricative, corresponding to ʃ but with vocal cord vibration, like the "s" in English "measure." Its Unicode is U+0292, and the HTML entity is ʒ. This symbol frequently appears in French loanwords, such as the initial of "je."

θ is called the voiceless dental fricative, formed by placing the tongue tip between the upper and lower teeth, as in English "think." Its Unicode is U+03B8, and the HTML entity is θ. Note that it shares the same glyph as the Greek letter θ but has a different sound value—in Greek, θ is a voiceless dental plosive, while in IPA it is an interdental fricative.

ð is called the voiced dental fricative, same place as θ but with vocal cord vibration, like the "th" in English "this." Its Unicode is U+00F0, and the HTML entity is ð. This symbol originates from the Old English letter eth and is extremely common in modern English function words.

m is called the bilabial nasal, formed by closing both lips and lowering the soft palate so air passes through the nose, like in English "man." Its Unicode is U+006D, and the HTML entity is m. This sound can serve as a syllable nucleus, such as the syllabic m in some dialects.

n is called the alveolar nasal, formed by the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge with airflow through the nose, like in English "no." Its Unicode is U+006E, and the HTML entity is n. In connected speech, this sound often undergoes assimilation due to following consonants, such as "input" where n is actually pronounced as [m].

ŋ is called the velar nasal, formed by the back of the tongue against the soft palate, like the "ng" in English "sing." Its Unicode is U+014B, and the HTML entity is ŋ. In English, it is usually spelled as ng; in Mandarin, this sound cannot serve as an initial consonant.

l is called the alveolar lateral approximant, formed by the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge with airflow passing along the sides of the tongue, like in English "let." Its Unicode is U+006C, and the HTML entity is l. Note that word-final l in English is often a velarized variant called "dark l."

r is called the alveolar trill, formed by rapid vibration of the tongue tip, as in Spanish "perro." Its Unicode is U+0072, and the HTML entity is r. English and Mandarin r are mostly approximants, not true trills, with similar tongue position but no vibration.

h is called the voiceless glottal fricative, formed by an open glottis creating friction, like the first sound in English "hat." Its Unicode is U+0068, and the HTML entity is h. In English, this sound often becomes voiced [ɦ] between vowels, while Mandarin h has a more retracted articulation closer to the velar position.

🗣️ Vowels

i is called the close front unrounded vowel, with a high front tongue position and spread lips, like the vowel in English "see." Its Unicode is U+0069, and the HTML entity is i. In English, as in "see," the duration is typically longer, and narrow transcription can add a length mark.

y is called the close front rounded vowel, same tongue position as i but with rounded lips, like German "über" or French "tu." Its Unicode is U+0079, and the HTML entity is y. It is common in French and Turkish, and in Mandarin, it is the final in "雨" (yu).

u is called the close back rounded vowel, with a high back tongue position and rounded lips, like the vowel in English "too." Its Unicode is U+0075, and the HTML entity is u. The vowel in English "too" is slightly more fronted than Mandarin u, and its actual pronunciation is closer to [ʉ].

e is called the close-mid front unrounded vowel, with a mid-high tongue position, like the "e" in German "See." Its Unicode is U+0065, and the HTML entity is e. Note that the vowel in English "bed" is actually lower [ɛ]—do not confuse it with e.

o is called the close-mid back rounded vowel, with a mid-high tongue position and rounded lips, like the vowel in English "go" (first part of the diphthong). Its Unicode is U+006F, and the HTML entity is o. This sound is very pure in languages like French and Italian, while in English it often has a diphthongal quality.

ə is called the mid central vowel (schwa), with the tongue in a neutral, relaxed central position—the common vowel in unstressed syllables like English "about." Its Unicode is U+0259, and the HTML entity is ə. The first sound in English "about" is ə, making it one of the most frequently used vowels in English.

ɑ is called the open back unrounded vowel, with a low back tongue position and unrounded lips, like the vowel in English "father." Its Unicode is U+0251, and the HTML entity is ɑ. The vowel in English "father" is this sound, while Mandarin a has a more fronted tongue position, narrowly transcribed as [ä].

ɔ is called the open-mid back rounded vowel, with a mid-low tongue position and rounded lips, like the vowel in English "saw." Its Unicode is U+0254, and the HTML entity is ɔ. In American English, this sound often merges with [ɑ], forming the "cot-caught merger."

📌 Diacritics & Suprasegmental Features

ˈ is called the primary stress mark, placed before a syllable to indicate primary stress, such as the first syllable in English "record" (noun) which can be transcribed as [ˈrekɔːd]. Its Unicode is U+02C8, and the HTML entity is ˈ. Secondary stress is indicated by the symbol ˌ, as in "ˌinform."

ː is called the length mark, placed after a vowel to indicate a long vowel, such as English "see" narrowly transcribed as [siː]. Its Unicode is U+02D0, and the HTML entity is ː. Note that some languages indicate length by doubling letters, like Finnish, while IPA uniformly uses this symbol.

ʰ is called the aspiration diacritic—superscript h indicating consonant aspiration, such as Mandarin "怕" narrowly transcribed as [pʰa]. Its Unicode is U+02B0, and the HTML entity is ʰ. English voiceless plosives are usually aspirated word-initially as well but are generally not marked and are omitted in broad transcription.

̃ is called the nasalization diacritic, placed above a vowel to indicate lowered soft palate with nasal resonance, such as French "bon" transcribed as [bɔ̃]. Its Unicode is U+0303, and the HTML entity is ̃. This symbol must be used in combination with preceding and following characters as a combining diacritic mark.

💡 Usage Tips

Click any phonetic symbol card to open a detail panel. In the panel, you can copy the phonetic description, Unicode encoding, and HTML entity with one click, as well as generate SVG vector source code or download a 512×512 transparent background PNG image. If you need to use IPA symbols in academic papers, courseware, or language learning applications, it is recommended to prioritize Unicode characters for cross-platform compatibility; for web development, it is recommended to use HTML entities or paste characters directly (ensure the page encoding is UTF-8). Mastering the standard IPA pronunciation of each symbol facilitates precise phonetic analysis—the phonetic descriptions on this page will provide you with reliable reference. When using broad and narrow transcription, pay attention to symbol selection: broad transcription typically omits details like aspiration marks, while narrow transcription records pronunciation features as accurately as possible.