Pronunciation

Writing the pronunciation of a common word for a dictionary is not quite as simple a matter as using one's personal knowledge of how a word is pronounced.

Oxford's lexicographers speak in a variety of regional accents, but the British pronunciation given in Dictionary entries reflects that of educated speakers in southern England. In practice, we are guided by work that has already been done by specialists.

The pronunciations in the OED are given in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which uses letters and symbols to represent the various sounds which the human voice can make.

The Third Edition, currently being published in parts online, gives pronunciations for every word that is not obsolete, and now routinely gives a standard U.S. pronunciation alongside the British one. In the case of words spoken chiefly in a particular region, a pronunciation for that region is also given.

The entry for maidener in the OED's Third Edition gives the following pronunciations:

Brit. /medn/, U.S. /mednr/, Canad. /meidnr/

The OED also notes when a pronunciation or stress pattern has significantly changed. The quotation evidence provides vital clues. For example, an occurrence of a word in a line of a poem can give an indication of how it was pronounced in speech.

The rhythm of this line of verse indicates that the word sinister was pronounced with the stress on the second syllable: