--- title: "How to pronounce zealous | Murmur" description: "Zealous has a short e in CMUdict, ZEL-us (Z EH1 L AH0 S), even though \"zeal\" by itself has a long ee." canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/zealous" --- [Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/zealous Pronunciation · Creative work # How to pronounce zealous Zealous has a short e in CMUdict, ZEL-us (Z EH1 L AH0 S), even though "zeal" by itself has a long ee. [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 **zealous**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed. Dictionary variant 1 `Z EH1 L AH0 S` **Syllable estimate** 2 vowel nuclei **Primary stress** 1st vowel position [Check zealous in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zealous). 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 zealous in context Zealous turns up in profiles, legal writing and reviews of an over-eager character. Because readers know zeal, they often say "ZEE-lus". The listed form shortens the vowel, as in jealous. 1. The zealous new manager rewrote every process in a week. 2. Fans can be zealous about their favorite bands. ### A practice cue Rhyme it with jealous. Then say zeal and zealous one after the other. The vowel should shorten as the word grows. ## Read the sound tokens Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of zealous. 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). `Z`sound in **zee**consonant`EH`sound in **Ed**vowel`L`sound in **lee**consonant`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`S`sound in **sea**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. [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 [How to pronounce stoic](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/stoic)[How to pronounce sanguine](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/sanguine)[How to pronounce nefarious](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/nefarious)[How to pronounce finance](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/finance) [Build a pronunciation test suite for local TTS](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/pronunciation-test-suite-local-tts) · [Browse all word references](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation) Murmur for Mac and Windows ## Check the word in a real voiceover. Murmur generates speech locally on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, and on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 as a beta. Try your audition sentences with your chosen model and voice, listen for pronunciation, and review the result before exporting. A dictionary sequence does not guarantee a model’s output. [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.[Explore Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/?utm_source=pronunciation&utm_medium=pseo&utm_campaign=wave1&utm_content=zealous#product)[Get Murmur free by sharing it](https://www.murmurtts.com/free?utm_source=pronunciation&utm_medium=pseo&utm_campaign=wave1&utm_content=zealous)