/ɜr/ - Stressed -ER
Reading & Pronunciation
/er/ or /ɜr/
There are 7 combination of letters that can create the sound /ɜr/:
ER: certain, concern, determine, her, nerve
EAR: earn, earth, heard, learn, search
UR: hurt, murder, return, surface, Thursday
IR: birthday, circle, dirty, firm, girl
OR: word, work, world, worse, worth
These combinations can also create the sound /ɜr/ although they are less common:
OUR: journey, journalist, courtesy
EUR: connoisseur, entrepreneur
Exceptions: These words also have the sound /ɜr/:
colonel /ˈkɜːrnəl/
hors d'oeuvre /ˌɔːr ˈdɜːrv/
Common words with /ɜr/
absurd
adverb
advertisement
affirm
alert
allergic
alternate
anniversary
attorney
bird
birth
blur
burden
burglar
burn
burst
certain
chauffeur
chirp
church
circle
circuit
circulation
clergy
coerce
colonel
commercial
concern
concur
confirm
connoisseur
controversial
convert
curly
curse
curtain
defer
desert
desertion
deserve
dessert
deter
detergent
dirty
diverse
earth
earthquake
earthy
emerge
entertainment
entrepreneur
eternal
eternity
excerpt
external
fern
fertile
fertilizer
fir
firm
firmly
first
firstly
flirt
framework
fraternal
fur
furnace
furthermore
girl
hamburger
heard
her
herb
herself
homework
hors d'oeuvre
hurt
iceberg
impurity
insert
interpret
inverse
jerk
journalism
journey
learn
lurk
maternal
merchandise
Mercury
mercy
merge
murder
nerve
nervous
noteworthy
nurse
nursery
nurture
observe
occur
overt
paperwork
pearl
per
perch
perfect
perfume
perky
person
persona
personal
persuasive
perverse
precursor
prefer
preservation
proverbial
purchase
purge
purple
purpose
purse
quirk
recur
refer
referral
refurbish
rehearse
reimburse
research
reserve
return
schoolwork
search
serve
service
shirt
sir
skirt
slur
smirk
squirt
sterling
stern
stir
sturdy
submerge
suburb
surf
surface
surge
surgeon
surgery
surname
surplus
survey
swerve
term
terminate
thermal
thermostat
third
thirtieth
thirty
Thursday
transfer
trustworthy
turmoil
turn
turpentine
uncertain
unfurnished
universe
university
unworthy
upward
urban
urge
verb
verbal
verse
version
vertex
vertical
virgin
virtual
virtue
voyeur
were
whirl
word
work
world
worm
worse
worship
worst
worth
worthy
Practice this sound
You can listen to words with this sound on my Memrise course here. Practice saying the sound in isolation. Consider doing this activity to get used to saying it while speaking.
certain
concern
determine
her
nerve
fertile
were
observe
convert
vertex
jerk
inverse
burn
earth
heard
learn
search
pearl
research
hurt
current
murder
return
surface
Thursday
blur
burst
urban
birthday
circle
dirty
firm
girl
whirl
bird
surf
birth
stir
chirp
confirm
third
virtual
word
work
world
worse
worth
worst
worthy
worthwhile
worship
journey
journal
courtesy