---
title: "How to pronounce subpoena | Murmur"
description: "The b in subpoena is silent: CMUdict gives suh-PEE-nuh (S AH0 P IY1 N AH0), three syllables with the stress on \"PEE\"."
canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/subpoena"
---
[Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/subpoena

Pronunciation · Work and business

# How to pronounce subpoena

The b in subpoena is silent: CMUdict gives suh-PEE-nuh (S AH0 P IY1 N AH0), three syllables with the stress on "PEE".

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## The dictionary sound sequence

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

Dictionary variant 1

`S AH0 P IY1 N AH0`

**Syllable estimate**

3 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

2nd vowel position

[Check subpoena in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subpoena).

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 subpoena in context

Subpoena is a court order to appear or hand over records, and it runs through legal dramas, news reports and compliance memos. The spelling suggests "sub-POE-na", but the b disappears and the "oe" becomes a long ee.

1. The committee issued a subpoena for the company's emails.
2. He was served with a subpoena the morning before the hearing.

### A practice cue

Picture the word spelled "suh-peena" and read it that way. Keep the lips apart after the first syllable. If you hear a b, start again more slowly.

## Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of subpoena. 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).

`S`sound in **sea**consonant`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`P`sound in **pee**consonant`IY`sound in **eat**vowel`N`sound in **knee**consonant

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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.

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## 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.

[CMUdict README](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/README) · [Included dictionary license](https://www.murmurtts.com/downloads/cmudict-license.txt)

Source version and checksum

Commit: `74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690`

Dictionary SHA-256: `81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22`

## Keep practising

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