Pronunciation · Science and learning

How to pronounce tsunami

Tsunami has two CMUdict forms, tsoo-NAH-mee and soo-NAH-mee; the ts can be sounded or dropped to a plain s.

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The dictionary sound sequence

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

Dictionary variant 1

T S UW0 N AA1 M IY0

Syllable estimate: 3 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

Dictionary variant 2

S UW0 N AA1 M IY0

Syllable estimate: 3 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

Check tsunami 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 tsunami in context

Tsunami appears in earthquake coverage, science lessons and disaster planning. Few English words start with ts, so many speakers drop the t, and both versions are in CMUdict.

The tsunami warning was lifted after an hour.
Scientists study how a tsunami builds in shallow water.

Read the sound tokens

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

Tsound in teaconsonant

Ssound in seaconsonant

UWsound in twovowel

Nsound in kneeconsonant

AAsound in oddvowel

Msound in meconsonant

IYsound in eatvowel

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 tsunami

Word: tsunami
Dictionary variant: 1 of 2
CMUdict ARPABET: T S UW0 N AA1 M IY0
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 3
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
The tsunami warning was lifted after an hour.
Scientists study how a tsunami builds in shallow water.

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: Try the ts form by saying "cats" and keeping only the end. Pick one form and stress NAH in both examples.

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/tsunami

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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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