/ˈaɪ.pə/

Amharic

Family: Afro-Asiatic · Africa · ISO amh · Glottolog · 21,700,000 speakers
61
Consonants
7
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Amharic — a Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Africa . With 68 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

d̠ʒ ~ t̠ʃʼː ~ t̠ʃʼ ~ t̠ʃː ~ t̠ʃ ~ d̠ʒː ~

approximant

w ~ wː ~ j ~ jː ~

fricative

fʷ ~ fʷː ~ h ~ hː ~ fː ~ f ~

lateral fricative

lː ~ l ~

nasal

nː ~ n ~ mː ~ m ~ mʷː ~ mʷ ~ ɲ ~ ŋ ~ ŋː ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ z ~ sː ~ zː ~ ʃ ~ ʒː ~ ʒ ~ ʃː ~

stop

t ~ d ~ tʼ ~ dː ~ tː ~ tʼː ~ bʷ ~ bː ~ p * b ~ bʷː ~ pʷʼ * pʼː ~ pʼ * ɡʷː ~ k ~ kː ~ ɡʷ ~ ɡː ~ ɡ ~ kʷ ~ kʷʼ ~ kʷʼː ~ kʷː ~

trill

rː ~ r ~

Vowels

o ~ u ~ i ~ a ~ ɨ ~ e ~ ə ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
68
phonemes

Amharic has 68 phonemes, placing it in the 96th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Amharic, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Amharic, not in English (49)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

t̠ʃʼː t̠ʃʼ t̠ʃː d̠ʒː wː jː fʷ fʷː hː fː lː nː mː mʷː mʷ ɲ ŋː sː zː ʒː ʃː t tʼ dː tː tʼː bʷ bː p bʷː pʷʼ pʼː pʼ ɡʷː k kː ɡʷ ɡː kʷ kʷʼ kʷʼː kʷː rː r o u a ɨ ə

In English, not in Amharic (26)

English speakers learning Amharic won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

pʰ iː oː ʊ v ts ɛ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Amharic →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Tigrinya 54%
Compare →
Hungarian 45%
Compare →
Tigre 45%
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Standard Malay 38%
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Chamorro 37%
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Compare Amharic with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao