For the most part, variation in pronunciation is based on the many shades of sound to be found in vowels, as anyone who has traveled abroad can appreciate. Pronunciations of the same Latin word by Americans, British, Italians, Spaniards, Japanese, etc. sometimes only vaguely approximate one another. We list vowels first, followed by a few consonants. The reader should have little difficulty in sounding the syllables as shown in the pronunciation guide.
a = a as in about
ab = ab as in absent
ad = ad as in advertise
af = af as in after
ag = ag as in aggravate
ah = a as in star
ak = ac as in active
al = al as in altitude
all = all as in fall
am = am as in amber
an = an as in ant
aw = aw as in saw
ay = ay as in say
i = i as in it
e = e as in often
ee = ee as in see
eh = e as in pet
eye = i as in pie
ew = ew as in few
o = o as in offer
oh = o as in bone
oo = oo as in soon
ow = ow as in how
oy = oy as in boy
u = u as in butter
uh - u as in medium
ff = ff as in stuff
g = g as in good
j = g as in ginger
k = k as in kite
s = s as in sing
ss = ss as in kiss
th = th as in thin
z = z as in zebra
For spoken word audio files of orchid genera see Orchids A to Z (must have sound card).
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