--- title: "How to pronounce ephemeral | Murmur" description: "Ephemeral stresses \"FEM\" in CMUdict, ih-FEM-er-ul (IH0 F EH1 M ER0 AH0 L), with ph as f and a light first syllable." canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/ephemeral" --- [Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/ephemeral Pronunciation · Creative work # How to pronounce ephemeral Ephemeral stresses "FEM" in CMUdict, ih-FEM-er-ul (IH0 F EH1 M ER0 AH0 L), with ph as f and a light first syllable. [Buy $49](https://murmur-licenses.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/checkout)[Download free for Apple Silicon (3-day Pro trial)](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/latest)Intel Mac? [Download here](https://murmur-updates.tarunyadav9761.workers.dev/download/intel).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 this North American English pronunciation for **ephemeral**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed. Dictionary variant 1 `IH0 F EH1 M ER0 AH0 L` **Syllable estimate** 4 vowel nuclei **Primary stress** 2nd vowel position [Check ephemeral in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ephemeral). 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 ephemeral in context Ephemeral describes things that last a short time, from art installations to social stories. Readers sometimes stress the first syllable or say the opening as a full "ee". In CMUdict the opening stays light and the weight falls on FEM. 1. The exhibit was ephemeral, gone after one weekend. 2. Most trends online are ephemeral and fade within a month. ### A practice cue Say ih-FEM slowly and then add er-ul. Read the word inside a full sentence to make sure the first syllable stays short. ## Read the sound tokens Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of ephemeral. 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). `IH`sound in **it**vowel`F`sound in **fee**consonant`EH`sound in **Ed**vowel`M`sound in **me**consonant`ER`sound in **hurt**vowel`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`L`sound in **lee**consonant 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. 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](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. 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