Wikipedia key to pronunciation of Sanskrit
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Vedic and Classical Sanskrit and Pali pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA , and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters .
See shiksha for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Sanskrit.
Consonants
IPA [1]
Nagari [1]
IAST [1] [2]
English approximation
k
क
k
sk in
kʰ
ख
kh
k in
ɡ
ग
g
ag ain
ɡʱ
घ
gh
logh ouse
ŋ
ङ
ṅ
ban k[3]
tɕ
च
c
rich es
tɕʰ
छ
ch
ch ew
dʑ
ज
j
j uice
dʑʱ
झ
jh
hedgeh og
ɲ
ञ
ñ
en joyable[3]
ʈ
ट
ṭ
st able
ʈʰ
ठ
ṭh
t able
ɖ
ड
ḍ
American bird
ɖʱ
ढ
ḍh
American birdh ouse
ɳ
ण
ṇ
American burn [3]
t
त
t
eight h
tʰ
थ
th
t able (but dental)
d
द
d
wid th
dʱ
ध
dh
redh ead (but dental )
n
न
n
ten th
p
प
p
sp an
pʰ
फ
ph
p an
b
ब
b
ab out
bʱ
भ
bh
clubh ouse
m
म
m
m uch
j
य
y
y ak
r [4]
र
r
Indian r oti
l
ल
l
l eaf
ʋ
व
v
between w ine and v ine
ɕ
श
ś
sh eep
ʂ
ष
ṣ
American worsh ip
s
स
s
s oup
ɦ
ह
h
ah ead
Vowels [3] [5]
IPA
Nagari
IAST [2]
English approximation
ɐ
अ , प
a
comma
aː
आ , पा
ā
bra
i
इ , पि
i
si t
iː
ई , पी
ī
fee t
u
उ , पु
u
loo k
uː
ऊ , पू
ū
loo t
eː
ए , पे
e
Scottish wai t
ɐːi̯ [6]
ऐ , पै
ai
hi
oː
ओ , पो
o
Scottish o ld
ɐːu̯ [7]
औ , पौ
au
how
Syllabic Consonants
r̩ [8]
ऋ , पृ
ṛ
Possibly like bir d
r̩ː [9]
ॠ , पॄ
ṝ
longer ṛ
l̩ [10]
ऌ, पॢ
ḷ
bottle
Vowel Diacritics
◌̃
ँ
◌̃/m̐
nasal vowel [ɐ̃] , [ãː] , [õː] , etc.)[3]
h
ः[11]
ḥ
h ead
^ a b c Devanagari consonant letters such as क have the inherent vowel अ a . Thus, क is pronounced ka , even without any vowel sign added. But the IPA and IAST shown here have the consonant k only and do not include the vowel 'a'.
^ a b c Comparison of IAST with ISO 15919 transliteration.
^ a b c d e Vowels may occur nasalised as an allophone of the nasal consonants in certain positions: see anusvara and chandrabindu .
^ /r/ may be phonetically realised as [ɽ], [ɾ] or [ɾ̪] in Classical Sanskrit.
^ Sanskrit distinguishes between long and short vowels . Each monophthong has a long and short phoneme. The diphthongs , historically /əi, aːi, əu, aːu/ , also have a difference in quality : [e, ei, o, ou] . Rarely, vowels may be extra-long .
^ [ai], [ɐi] or [ɛi] in Classical Sanskrit.
^ [au], [ɐu] or [ɔu] in Classical Sanskrit.
^ [ɻĭ] or [ɾɪ] for most modern speakers. [rŭ] for southern speakers.
^ [ri] or [ɽiː] for most modern speakers. [ru] for southern speakers.
^ [lrĭ] for most modern speakers. [lĭ] in Bengali and Maithili regions.
^ Visarga, added after a vowel.
^ In Classical Sanskrit , stress was predictable by syllable weight : counting from the end of a word, the second-last was stressed if heavy (having a long vowel or a coda consonant); if it was light, the third-last was stressed if heavy; otherwise, stress fell on the fourth-last syllable. Vedic Sanskrit , in contrast, possessed an unpredictable pitch accent .
Comparisons Introductory guides