This pronunciation guide has been developed by USP and approved by the USAN Council to facilitate pronunciation of USAN, and was revised at the USAN Council meeting, June 13, 2025, to facilitate pronunciation of USAN and will be used on all future Statements of Adoption.
Syllables
Syllable designations are based upon phonetic considerations. A prime mark (′) follows the primary accent syllable; a double prime mark (″) follows any secondary accent syllable. All syllables are separated by a blank space. No diacritical marks are used.
Sounds and spelling
Vowels, long-spelling designations in all syllables except the last syllable, unless indicated otherwise:
a
- ay
(may)
- ay
e
- ee
(lee) same in last syllable also
- ee
i
- eye
when by itself as a syllable - ye
when in conjunction with a consonant: lye
- eye
o
- oh
(when by itself as a syllable) - oe
(when in conjunction with a consonant: toe)
- oh
u
- ue
(cue, cure) same in last syllable also
- ue
y
- ee
(opium, oh′ pee um) - i
(thrombolytic, throm’’ boe lit’ ik) - eye
(kanamycin, kanʺ a myeʹ sin)
- ee
Spelling designations in the last syllable: The vowels a, i and o assume long vowel sounds by the addition of an e at the end of the syllable.
- —rate
- —bite
- —toe
Short vowel sounds
Short vowel sounds receive no special designation in any syllable.
a
- bat, mat, patch
e
- bed, met, therapy, teratoma
i
- bit, tip, irritate
o
- got, not, bought
u
- but, cut, wool
Digraphs
ah
- father
ai
- fair
aw
- paw
ch
- child
ng
- sing
oi
- oil
oo
- food
ou
- ought
ow
- out
oy
- oil
sh
- shot
th
- thought
wh
- when
Consonant sounds and examples
b
- bed
c
- citrate (si′ trate)
- carbon (kar′ bon)
d
- dog
f
- flew
g
- gore
- digital (di′ ji tal)
h
- hat
j
- jar
k
- king
l
- low
m
- my
n
- no
p
- pot
q
- queen (kween)
r
- rot
s
- sing
- osmotic (oz mot′ ik)
- aspirin (as′ pir in)
- vision (vi′ zhun)
t
- taught
v
- vote
w
- wing
x
- ox
- xanthines (zan′ theens)
y
- yes
z
- zinc
