--- title: "How to pronounce aesthetic | Murmur" description: "Aesthetic opens with \"es\", not \"ay\" or \"ee\", in CMUdict: es-THET-ik (EH0 S TH EH1 T IH0 K), stressed on the second syllable." canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/aesthetic" --- [Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/aesthetic Pronunciation · Creative work # How to pronounce aesthetic Aesthetic opens with "es", not "ay" or "ee", in CMUdict: es-THET-ik (EH0 S TH EH1 T IH0 K), stressed on the second syllable. [Buy $49](https://murmur-licenses.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/checkout)[Download free for Apple Silicon (3-day Pro trial)](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/latest)Intel Mac? [Download here](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/intel).Not sure? Apple menu > About This Mac shows your chip. Free plan with Kokoro voices, 3,000 characters a day · 3-day Pro trial, then $49 once ## The dictionary sound sequence CMUdict lists this North American English pronunciation for **aesthetic**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed. Dictionary variant 1 `EH0 S TH EH1 T IH0 K` **Syllable estimate** 3 vowel nuclei **Primary stress** 2nd vowel position [Check aesthetic in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetic). Syllable counts come from vowel tokens; CMUdict does not supply syllable boundaries here. Variant order follows the dictionary and does not rank correctness. This lexicon does not represent every accent or context. ## Use aesthetic in context Aesthetic is a staple of design reviews, art criticism and social media captions. The ae spelling invites "ay-sthetic" or "ee-sthetic", and the th sometimes gets flattened to a t. CMUdict starts it on a short e, with the th of "thin". 1. The studio's aesthetic leans on muted greens and raw wood. 2. He cared more about the aesthetic of the cover than the blurb. ### A practice cue Break it into "es" and "THET" first, then add "ik". Check that the th stays breathy, as in thin, rather than turning into a t. ## Read the sound tokens Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of aesthetic. Unstressed vowels may sound reduced. These cues follow the [CMU phoneme-set key (Appendix A)](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aria/Papers/MastersThesis.pdf#page=115). `EH`sound in **Ed**vowel`S`sound in **sea**consonant`TH`sound in **theta**consonant`T`sound in **tea**consonant`IH`sound in **it**vowel`K`sound in **key**consonant Take it to your next recording ## Make an audition worksheet Select a dictionary variant for your checklist. The two original sentences retain their normal spelling; this worksheet helps you review a recording rather than forcing a speech engine to use phonemes. Copying and downloading happen in your browser. No script upload or audio generation is needed. ## Dictionary source The phonemes on this page come from [CMU Pronouncing Dictionary](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict). The dictionary maintainers acknowledge that errors and omissions can remain; check another source or a speaker when the pronunciation matters. 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