Interactive IPA Chart

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a set of symbols that linguists use to describe the sounds of spoken languages.

This page lets you hear the sounds that the symbols represent, but remember that it is only a rough guide. There is lots of variation in how these sounds are said depending on the language and context. For example, in English voiceless plosives usually end with a puff of air called aspiration, but the voiceless plosives on this page aren't aspirated.

For best results, please use a browser with HTML5 Audio support. The latest version of any popular web browser will do.

Vowels

Front

Central

Back

Close-mid

Open-mid

Open

i y

ɨ ʉ

ɯ u

ɪ ʏ

e ø

ɘ ɵ

ɤ o

ɛ œ

ɜ ɞ

ʌ ɔ

a ɶ

ɑ ɒ

Pulmonic consonants

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.

	Bilabial		Labiodental		Dental		Alveolar		Post alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal		Glottal
Plosive	p	b	p̪	b̪	t			d			ʈ	ɖ	c	ɟ	k	g	q	ɢ	ꞯ	𝼂	ʔ	ʔ̞
Nasal	m̥	m	ɱ̊	ɱ	n̥			n			ɳ̊	ɳ	ɲ̊	ɲ	ŋ̊	ŋ	ɴ̥	ɴ
Trill	ʙ̥	ʙ	ʙ̪̊	ʙ̪	r̥			r			ɽ̊͡r̥	ɽ͡r	ʀ᫊᫉̊	ʀ᫊᫉	ʀ᫊̊	ʀ᫊	ʀ̥	ʀ	ʀ̠̊	ʀ̠		ə̯
Tap or Flap	p̆	b̆	ⱱ̥	ⱱ	ɾ̥			ɾ			ɽ̊	ɽ	c̆	ɟ̆	k̆	ğ	q̆	ɢ̆	ꞯ̆	𝼂̆
Fricative	ɸ	β	f	v	θ	ð	s	z	ʃ	ʒ	ʂ	ʐ	ç	ʝ	x	ɣ	χ	ʁ	ħ	ʕ	h	ɦ
Lateral Fricative					ɬ			ɮ			ꞎ	𝼅	𝼆	ʎ̝	𝼄	ʟ̝	𝼄̠	ʟ̝˗
Approximant	ɸ̞	β̞	ʋ̥	ʋ	ɹ̥			ɹ			ɻ̊	ɻ	j̊	j	ɰ̊	ɰ	χ˕	ʁ̞	ħ̞	ʕ̞	h̞
Lateral Approximant					l̥			l			ɭ̊	ɭ	ʎ̥	ʎ	ʟ̥	ʟ	ʟ̠̊	ʟ̠

Non-pulmonic consonants

Clicks	Voiced implosives	Ejectives
ʘ Bilabial	ɓ Bilabial	pʼ Bilabial
ǀ Dental	ɗ Dental/alveolar	tʼ Dental/alveolar
ǃ (Post)alveoalar	ʄ Palatal	kʼ Velar
ǂ Palatoalveolar	ɠ Velar	sʼ Alveolar fricative
ǁ Alveolar lateral	ʛ Uvular	ʼ etc…

Other symbols

ʍ Voiceless labial-velar fricative

w Voiced labial-velar approximant

ɥ Voiced labial-palatal approximant

ʜ Voiceless epiglottal fricative

ʢ Voiced epiglottal fricative

ʡ Epiglottal plosive

ɕ Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative

ʑ Voiced alveolo-palatal fricative

ɺ Alveolar lateral flap

ɧ Simultaneous ʃ and x

Affricates

t͡s Voiceless alveolar affricate

t͡ʃ Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate

t͡ɕ Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate

ʈ͡ʂ Voiceless retroflex affricate

d͡z Voiced alveolar affricate

d͡ʒ Voiced post-alveolar affricate

d͡ʑ Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate

ɖ͡ʐ Voiceless retroflex affricate

Each audio clip is the work of Peter Isotalo, User:Denelson83, UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive 2003, User:Halibutt, User:Pmx or User:Octane, and made available under a free and/or copyleft licence. For details on the licensing and attribution requirements of a particular clip, browse to it from the general phonetics page at the Wikimedia Commons. Vowel trapezoid background by User:Denelson83; see File:Blank vowel trapezoid.png on Wikimedia Commons for details.