Pronunciation · Science and learning

How to pronounce uranus

Uranus has two CMUdict stress options, YOO-ruh-nus and YER-uh-nus, and narrators choose between them to avoid an unintended joke.

Buy $49 Download free for Apple SiliconIntel Mac? Download here.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 uranus. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

Dictionary variant 1

Y UW1 R AH0 N AH0 S

Syllable estimate: 3 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

Dictionary variant 2

Y ER1 AH0 N AH0 S

Syllable estimate: 3 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

Check uranus 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 uranus in context

Astronomy lessons, science documentaries and space news all need to name the seventh planet. CMUdict lists one form with the stress on "YOO" followed by "ruh-nus", and another that begins "YER". Both are standard; the choice is mostly about which one keeps a classroom focused on the science.

Uranus rotates on its side compared with the other planets.
The probe will take years to reach Uranus.

Read the sound tokens

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

Ysound in yieldconsonant

UWsound in twovowel

Rsound in readconsonant

AHsound in hutvowel

Nsound in kneeconsonant

Ssound in seaconsonant

ERsound in hurtvowel

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 uranus

Word: uranus
Dictionary variant: 1 of 2
CMUdict ARPABET: Y UW1 R AH0 N AH0 S
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 3
Primary stress: 1st vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
Uranus rotates on its side compared with the other planets.
The probe will take years to reach Uranus.

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: Record both variants and listen back in context. For educational audio, choose one form, note it at the top of the script and use it every time the planet comes up.

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/uranus

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. 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

Build a pronunciation test suite for local TTS · Browse all word references