Pronunciation · Science and learning

How to pronounce caribbean

Caribbean takes its stress on "RIB" or on "EE" in CMUdict (kuh-RIB-ee-un, kair-ib-EE-un), and mixing the two in one script is the trap.

Buy $49 Download free for Apple SiliconIntel Mac? Download here.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 these 2 North American English pronunciations for caribbean. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

Dictionary variant 1

K ER0 IH1 B IY0 AH0 N

Syllable estimate: 4 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

Dictionary variant 2

K EH2 R IH0 B IY1 AH0 N

Syllable estimate: 4 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 3rd vowel position
Secondary stress: 1st vowel position

Check caribbean in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio.

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 caribbean in context

Travel ads, geography lessons and weather reports all mention the Caribbean. CMUdict gives one form stressed on "RIB" and another that pushes the stress to "EE". Both are widely used, and either can work, but a narrator switching between them sounds unprepared.

The storm moved slowly across the Caribbean overnight.
They spent a week sailing between Caribbean islands.

Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of caribbean. Unstressed vowels may sound reduced. These cues follow the CMU phoneme-set key (Appendix A).

Ksound in keyconsonant

ERsound in hurtvowel

IHsound in itvowel

Bsound in beconsonant

IYsound in eatvowel

AHsound in hutvowel

Nsound in kneeconsonant

EHsound in Edvowel

Rsound in readconsonant

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.

Worksheet pronunciation variant

Your plain-text audition worksheet

How to pronounce caribbean

Word: caribbean
Dictionary variant: 1 of 2
CMUdict ARPABET: K ER0 IH1 B IY0 AH0 N
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 4
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
The storm moved slowly across the Caribbean overnight.
They spent a week sailing between Caribbean islands.

REVIEW CHECKLIST
[ ] Read both sentences naturally; keep the source wording.
[ ] Compare the intended pronunciation with the selected dictionary variant.
[ ] Listen for vowel sounds, consonants, and word stress in context.
[ ] Check with a speaker or another dictionary when accent or meaning matters.
[ ] Generate and listen to a short Murmur sample before exporting the full script.

Practice note: Say both versions aloud and pick the one that sounds natural to you. Then read any phrase that repeats the word, such as a list of destinations, to confirm the stress holds.

CMUdict is a North American English lexicon, not a recording or a complete accent guide.
Variant order is dictionary order; it is not a ranking of correctness.
Source: https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict
Source commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690
License: https://www.murmurtts.com/downloads/cmudict-license.txt
Reference: https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/caribbean

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. The dictionary maintainers acknowledge that errors and omissions can remain; check another source or a speaker when the pronunciation matters.

CMUdict README · Included dictionary license

Source version and checksum

Commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690

Dictionary SHA-256: 81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22

Build a pronunciation test suite for local TTS · Browse all word references