Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

father-bother merger

/ˌfɐːðə ˈbɔðə ˈmɜːdʒə/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.81 in modern English

Syllables: fa-ther-both-er merg-er
IPA: /ˌfɐːðə ˈbɔðə ˈmɜːdʒə/

32

Scrabble Score

18

Letters

5

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A phonemic merger in English of the vowels /ɑː/ (as in father) and /ɒ/ (as in bother).

Example Sentences

"The first is the father-bother merger, a loss of rounding contrast in the low back vowels by which the originally contrastive /ɒ/ has been subsumed by /ɑː/ into the fused phoneme /ɑ/."

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˌfɐːðə ˈbɔðə ˈmɜːdʒə/
British English: /ˌfɑːðə ˈbɒðə ˈmɜːdʒə/

Phrases

cot-caught merger

Frequently Paired Words

cot-caught merger

Questions

How do you pronounce father-bother merger?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌfɐːðə ˈbɔðə ˈmɜːdʒə/.
What does father-bother merger mean?: A phonemic merger in English of the vowels /ɑː/ (as in father) and /ɒ/ (as in bother).

How to pronounce father-bother merger

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “father-bother merger”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌfɐːðə ˈbɔðə ˈmɜːdʒə/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “father-bother merger”.
Repeat and practice — Say “father-bother merger” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.