Pronunciation · Work and business

How to pronounce caveat

Caveat has three syllables in CMUdict, KAY-vee-at (K EY1 V IY0 AE2 T), stressed on the first, with the final t sounded.

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The dictionary sound sequence

CMUdict lists this North American English pronunciation for caveat. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

Dictionary variant 1

K EY1 V IY0 AE2 T

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

Check caveat 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 caveat in context

Caveat comes up in contracts, analyst notes and meeting talk, as in "one caveat". Readers sometimes squeeze it into two syllables, "kav-yat". The entry keeps three beats and ends on a clear t.

One caveat: the numbers exclude the holiday quarter.
The offer came with a caveat about early cancellation.

Read the sound tokens

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

Ksound in keyconsonant

EYsound in atevowel

Vsound in veeconsonant

IYsound in eatvowel

AEsound in atvowel

Tsound in teaconsonant

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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 caveat

Word: caveat
Dictionary variant: 1 of 1
CMUdict ARPABET: K EY1 V IY0 AE2 T
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 3
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
One caveat: the numbers exclude the holiday quarter.
The offer came with a caveat about early cancellation.

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 kay, vee and at separately, then join them without dropping the middle vowel. Read the first example at meeting pace to check all three beats survive.

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/caveat

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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.

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Source version and checksum

Commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690

Dictionary SHA-256: 81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22

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