Phrase guide

cot-caught merger

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: ʹkŏt kôt mûrjər without the merger
  • US: /ˈkɑt kɔt ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/ without the merger
  • US: non-cot-caught Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • cot-caught-merger: /ˈkɑt kɑt ˌmɝd͡ʒɚ/
  • US: cot-caught Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɒt kɔːt ˌmɜːd͡ʒə/
  • British, Southern, Standard: [ˈkɔt koːt ˌməːd͡ʒə]
  • Scotland: /ˈkɔt kɔt ˌmɛɾdʒəɾ/
  • Australian: /ˈkɔt koːt ˌmɜːd͡ʒə/
  • New-Zealand: /ˈkɔt koːt ˌmøːd͡ʒɘ/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A phonemic merger in some varieties of English (especially American, Canadian and Scottish English) in which the vowels in words such as hot and doll (/ɒ/) and in words such as law and talk (/ɔː/) are pronounced identically, making the words cot and caught homophones.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, phonology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: low back merger

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.