--- title: "How to pronounce quixotic | Murmur" description: "Quixotic is kwik-SAH-tik in CMUdict (K W IH0 K S AA1 T IH0 K): the x is \"ks\", though the Spanish name Quixote does not use that sound." canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/quixotic" --- [Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/quixotic Pronunciation · Creative work # How to pronounce quixotic Quixotic is kwik-SAH-tik in CMUdict (K W IH0 K S AA1 T IH0 K): the x is "ks", though the Spanish name Quixote does not use that sound. [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 **quixotic**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed. Dictionary variant 1 `K W IH0 K S AA1 T IH0 K` **Syllable estimate** 3 vowel nuclei **Primary stress** 2nd vowel position [Check quixotic in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quixotic). 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 quixotic in context Quixotic describes a noble but impractical plan, and it shows up in book reviews, essays and political commentary. Readers who know Don Quixote sometimes carry over a "key-HO-tee" style opening. The English adjective keeps a hard "ks" and stresses the middle syllable. 1. Their quixotic plan to restore the old railway won the town over. 2. Critics called the campaign quixotic, but it raised the money. ### A practice cue Say the word as kwik plus SAH plus tik and land the stress on the middle. Then say Don Quixote next to it to feel how the two differ. ## Read the sound tokens Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of quixotic. 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). `K`sound in **key**consonant`W`sound in **we**consonant`IH`sound in **it**vowel`S`sound in **sea**consonant`AA`sound in **odd**vowel`T`sound in **tea**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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