Pronunciation · Science and learning

How to pronounce coyote

Coyote can be three syllables, ky-OH-tee, or two, KY-oht; CMUdict lists both, and the stress moves with the syllable count.

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The dictionary sound sequence

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

Dictionary variant 1

K AY0 OW1 T IY0

Syllable estimate: 3 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

Dictionary variant 2

K AY1 OW0 T

Syllable estimate: 2 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

Check coyote 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 coyote in context

Wildlife documentaries, nature guides and children's stories use coyote often. CMUdict lists ky-OH-tee with stress on the middle syllable and KY-oht with stress on the first. The shorter form is common in parts of the western US, so match the setting of your piece.

A coyote crossed the trail just before sunrise.
The coyote population has grown near the city.

Read the sound tokens

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

Ksound in keyconsonant

AYsound in hidevowel

OWsound in oatvowel

Tsound in teaconsonant

IYsound in eatvowel

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 coyote

Word: coyote
Dictionary variant: 1 of 2
CMUdict ARPABET: K AY0 OW1 T IY0
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 3
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
A coyote crossed the trail just before sunrise.
The coyote population has grown near the city.

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: Listen to how your audience names the animal, then commit to that form. In a scripted documentary, mark the choice next to the first mention so retakes match.

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/coyote

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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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