Pronunciation · Science and learning

How to pronounce pharaoh

Pharaoh has two syllables in CMUdict, FAIR-oh or FAY-roh; the "aoh" ending is a plain "oh", not "ay-oh".

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The dictionary sound sequence

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

Dictionary variant 1

F EH1 R OW0

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

Dictionary variant 2

F EY1 R OW0

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

Check pharaoh 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 pharaoh in context

Pharaoh fills history documentaries, Bible readings and museum audio guides. The letters after the r tempt readers into three syllables, "fair-ay-oh". Both entries have two, ending on oh.

The pharaoh ordered a new temple on the river bank.
Each pharaoh was buried with goods for the next life.

Read the sound tokens

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

Fsound in feeconsonant

EHsound in Edvowel

Rsound in readconsonant

OWsound in oatvowel

EYsound in atevowel

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 pharaoh

Word: pharaoh
Dictionary variant: 1 of 2
CMUdict ARPABET: F EH1 R OW0
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 2
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
The pharaoh ordered a new temple on the river bank.
Each pharaoh was buried with goods for the next life.

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: Two beats only: FAIR and oh. If a third syllable appears, picture the spelling as "pharo" for a few takes.

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/pharaoh

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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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