--- title: "How to pronounce tsunami | Murmur" description: "Tsunami has two CMUdict forms, tsoo-NAH-mee and soo-NAH-mee; the ts can be sounded or dropped to a plain s." canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/tsunami" --- [Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/tsunami 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. [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 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](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tsunami). 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. 1. The tsunami warning was lifted after an hour. 2. Scientists study how a tsunami builds in shallow water. ### A practice cue Try the ts form by saying "cats" and keeping only the end. Pick one form and stress NAH in both examples. ## 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)](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aria/Papers/MastersThesis.pdf#page=115). `T`sound in **tea**consonant`S`sound in **sea**consonant`UW`sound in **two**vowel`N`sound in **knee**consonant`AA`sound in **odd**vowel`M`sound in **me**consonant`IY`sound in **eat**vowel 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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