Pronunciation · Everyday language

How to pronounce parmesan

Parmesan ends in "zahn" in CMUdict, PAR-muh-zahn (P AA1 R M AH0 Z AA2 N), with the s voiced as z and stress on the first syllable.

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The dictionary sound sequence

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

Dictionary variant 1

P AA1 R M AH0 Z AA2 N

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

Check parmesan 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 parmesan in context

Parmesan is on pasta menus, recipe cards and grocery labels. Speakers split between "zahn", "zhahn" and "san" for the last syllable. The listed form voices the s as z and gives the end an "ah" vowel.

Finish the risotto with a handful of grated parmesan.
The shop sells parmesan aged for twenty-four months.

Read the sound tokens

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

Psound in peeconsonant

AAsound in oddvowel

Rsound in readconsonant

Msound in meconsonant

AHsound in hutvowel

Zsound in zeeconsonant

Nsound in kneeconsonant

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 parmesan

Word: parmesan
Dictionary variant: 1 of 1
CMUdict ARPABET: P AA1 R M AH0 Z AA2 N
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 3
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
Finish the risotto with a handful of grated parmesan.
The shop sells parmesan aged for twenty-four months.

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 PAR, muh and zahn, buzzing the z. Read a full recipe step so the stress stays at the front.

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/parmesan

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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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