PRONUNCIATION / Work and business

How to pronounce coup

Check coup pronunciation with CMUdict sound tokens and stress, then practise two original sentences and download a voiceover audition worksheet.

The dictionary sound sequence

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

Dictionary variant 1

K UW1

Syllable estimate: 1 vowel nucleus
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

Check coup 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 coup in context

Coup can refer to a seizure of political power or to a notable achievement. News and history narration must make the political sense explicit, while business or arts commentary should identify the success. Those meanings ask for very different emotional weight despite sharing the same written form.

The documentary examines the months leading up to the coup.
Securing the rare manuscript was a coup for the small museum.

Read the sound tokens

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

Ksound in keyconsonant

UWsound in twovowel

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 coup

Word: coup
Dictionary variant: 1 of 1
CMUdict ARPABET: K UW1
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 1
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
The documentary examines the months leading up to the coup.
Securing the rare manuscript was a coup for the small museum.

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: Test coup within the complete political or achievement sentence, using your chosen reference. Listen for the following words to remain attached naturally, and select a tone that reflects either the gravity of the event or the significance of the accomplishment.

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/coup

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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.

CMUdict README · Included dictionary license

Source version and checksum

Commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690

Dictionary SHA-256: 81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22

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