Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

mary-marry-merry merger

/ˈmeɹi ˈmæɹi ˈmɛɹi ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.51 in modern English

Syllables
Ma-ry-mar-ry-mer-ry merg-er
IPA
/ˈmeɹi ˈmæɹi ˈmɛɹi ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/
38
Scrabble Score
20
Letters
5
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A phonemic merger where the vowels in "mare", "pat", "pet" (usually pronounced mâr, păt, pĕt respectively) are pronounced the same before r, making "Mary", "marry", "merry" homophones.

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈmeɹi ˈmæɹi ˈmɛɹi ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/
  • British English: /ˈmɛəɹi ˈmæɹi ˈmɛɹi ˌmɜːd͡ʒə/

Inflected Forms

the Mary-marry-merry merger (canonical)

Questions

How do you pronounce mary-marry-merry merger?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈmeɹi ˈmæɹi ˈmɛɹi ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/.
What does mary-marry-merry merger mean?
A phonemic merger where the vowels in "mare", "pat", "pet" (usually pronounced mâr, păt, pĕt respectively) are pronounced the same before r, making "Mary", "marry", "merry" homophones.

How to pronounce mary-marry-merry merger

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “mary-marry-merry merger”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈmeɹi ˈmæɹi ˈmɛɹi ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “mary-marry-merry merger”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “mary-marry-merry merger” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.