PRONUNCIATION GUIDELINES

Here are guidelines to help you pronounce medical terms, as well as understand pronunciation marks used throughout this text

Special Sounds

Here are rules regarding certain letter combinations and special sounds attributed to letters, based on their placement in a medical word:

• For ae and oe, only the second vowel is pronounced. Examples are bursae, pleurae, and roentgen.

• The soft sound of s and j is given to c and g, respectively, before e, i, and y in words of Greek or Latin origin. Examples are cerebrum, circumcision, cycle, gel, gingivitis, giant, and gyrate.

• Before other letters, c and g have a hard sound. Examples are cardiac, cast, gastric, and gonad.

• The letters ch are sometimes pronounced like k.

Examples are cholesterol, cholera, and cholemia.

• When pn appears at the beginning of a word, p is silent and only n is pronounced.

Examples are pneumonia and pneumotoxin.

• When pn appears in the middle of a word, p and n are pronounced.

Examples are orthopnea and hyperpnea.

• When ps appears at the beginning of a word, p is silent and only s is pronounced.

Examples are psychology and psychosis.

• When forming the final letter(s) of a word, e and es are commonly pronounced as separate syllables.

Examples are syncope, systole, and nares.

• When i appears at the end of a word (to form a plural), it is pronounced eye.

Examples are bronchi, fungi, and nuclei.

• All other vowels and consonants have normal English sounds.

Pronunciation Marks

Diacritical marks and capitalization help explain pronunciations throughout the text. Diacritical marks show vowel sounds, and capitalization shows emphasis.

Diacritical marks are symbols placed above the vowels. They show vowel sounds. In this text, only two diacritical marks are used: the macron ( ̄) and the breve ( ̆).

The macron indicates the long sound of vowels, as in:

ā in rāte ē in rēbirth

The breve indicates the short sound of vowels, as in:

ă in ălone ĕ in ĕver

īinīsle ĭinĭt ōinōver ŏinnŏt ū in ūnite ŭ in cŭt

Capitalization indicates primary accent. For example, the pronunciation LĔT-tĕr indicates that emphasis should be placed on the first syllable when pronouncing the word letter.