This pronunciation guide explains IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols. It’s based on ‘IPA symbols and speech sounds’ in Essentials of Linguistics, by Catherine Anderson (2018), Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The high-set stress mark ( ˈ ) precedes syllables with primary (strongest) stress. The low-set stress mark ( ˌ ) precedes syllables with secondary (medium) stress. The triangular colon ( ː ) indicates a longer vowel sound.

A diphthong is a speech sound that combines two vowels in one syllable. For example, modE ‘toy’ (one syllable) has a diphthong, but ‘chaos’ (two syllables) does not. When there is no hyphen between a pair of vowels, this indicates a diphthong.

Vowels

• i see, neat, piece
• ɪ pin, bit, lick
• e say, place, rain
• ɛ ten, said, bread
• æ mad, cat, fan
• a far, start
• u pool, blue
• o throw, hole, toe
• ʌ bus, mud, lunch
• ɔ store, corn
• ɝ bird, fur
• ə believe, cinnamon, surround (in an unstressed syllable)

Stops

• p peach, apple, cap
• b bill, above, rib
• t tall, internal, light
• d dill, adore, kid
• k cave, ticket, luck
• g give, baggage, dig

Fricatives

• f phone, raffle, leaf
• v lively, love
• θ thin, author, bath
• s celery, passing, bus
• z zebra, deposit
• ʃ shell, ocean
• h hill, ahead

Affricates

• tʃ chip, ditch
• dʒ adjoin, bridge

Nasals

• m mill, hammer, broom
• n nickel, sunny, spoon
• ŋ singer, wrong

Approximants

• l lamb
• ɹ robot, furry, star
• j yellow, royal
• w winter, flower

If you want to learn more about how to pronounce Old English words, here are some helpful resources:

• R. Marsden, The Cambridge Old English Reader, 2nd edn (2015)
• B. Mitchell and F. C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, 8th edn (2011)
• P. Baker, Introduction to Old English, 3rd edn (2012)
• Þæt Eald-Ænglisce Blog