---
title: "How to pronounce antarctica | Murmur"
description: "Antarctica has two CMUdict forms: ant-ARK-tih-kuh, with every sound, and an-AR-tih-kuh, which drops the t and the first k."
canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/antarctica"
---
[Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/antarctica

Pronunciation · Science and learning

# How to pronounce antarctica

Antarctica has two CMUdict forms: ant-ARK-tih-kuh, with every sound, and an-AR-tih-kuh, which drops the t and the first k.

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## The dictionary sound sequence

CMUdict lists these 2 North American English pronunciations for **antarctica**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed.

Dictionary variant 1

`AE2 N T AA1 R K T IH0 K AH0`

**Syllable estimate**

4 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

2nd vowel position

**Secondary stress**

1st vowel position

Dictionary variant 2

`AE2 N AA1 R T IH0 K AH0`

**Syllable estimate**

4 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

2nd vowel position

**Secondary stress**

1st vowel position

[Check antarctica in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antarctica).

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 antarctica in context

Antarctica appears in geography lessons, nature documentaries and climate reporting. Many people say it without the first k, and some critics call that wrong, but both forms are in CMUdict with the full version first.

1. Scientists spend the winter at a research station in Antarctica.
2. The ice in Antarctica holds most of the world's fresh water.

### A practice cue

For the full form, sound the k in "ARK" before the t. Slow down there if it blurs. If you use the shorter form, use it every time.

## Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of antarctica. 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).

`AE`sound in **at**vowel`N`sound in **knee**consonant`T`sound in **tea**consonant`AA`sound in **odd**vowel`R`sound in **read**consonant`K`sound in **key**consonant`IH`sound in **it**vowel`AH`sound in **hut**vowel

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.

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## 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.

[CMUdict README](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/README) · [Included dictionary license](https://www.murmurtts.com/downloads/cmudict-license.txt)

Source version and checksum

Commit: `74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690`

Dictionary SHA-256: `81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22`

## Keep practising

[How to pronounce arkansas](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/arkansas)[How to pronounce uranus](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/uranus)[How to pronounce caribbean](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/caribbean)[How to pronounce february](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/february)

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