pronounce-word — speak the word out loud

Purpose. When the user asks how to pronounce an English word — and especially a project, product, or programmer-jargon name (kubectl, nginx, Pydantic, LaTeX, JSON, ...) — don't just respond in text. Play the audio so they can hear the community reading, then add a short text caption with the source.

Trigger patterns

Auto-invoke ONLY when the user's message matches a single-word or short-name pronunciation request:

• English: how to pronounce <X>, how do you pronounce <X>, pronounce <X>, how do you say <X>, what does <X> sound like
• Chinese: <X> 怎么读, <X> 怎么念, <X> 怎么发音, 读一下 <X>, 念一下 <X>

<X> MUST be a single token: a word, project name, product name, acronym, or identifier — the kind of thing a developer would actually type into say-it <X>. The dictionary is keyed on single tokens, so multi-word input is spoken raw (not looked up); for a two-part name pick the head token (say-it postgres, not say-it postgres database).

Do NOT trigger this skill when:

• <X> is a sentence or paragraph the user wants narrated (e.g. 读一下这段 / read this paragraph). That's a TTS request, not a pronunciation lookup. Suggest say "<sentence>" instead, or just answer in text.
• The message is asking about pronunciation conceptually (e.g. IPA 是什么 / what is phonetic spelling). Answer in text.
• <X> is non-English everyday vocabulary or a person's name unrelated to tech. The dictionary's editorial scope is tech-only — fall through to a text-only answer, or skip.

If the target token is ambiguous (multiple candidates in the message), ask which one before invoking.

What to do

1. Speak it 3 times via say-it.

   say-it <word>
   

   The CLI looks the word up in the dictionary and, if found, sends the dictionary's English-like respelling (e.g. "koob control") to the TTS engine so the pronunciation is the intended community reading — not whatever the engine would have guessed from the spelling alone. (macOS say does not parse IPA / [[inpt PHON]] / SSML <phoneme> markup — it reads them literally — so the dictionary stores respellings that ride the engine's built-in letter-to-sound rules.) If the word isn't in the dictionary, the CLI speaks the raw spelling.

   Defaults: voice Samantha (General American), rate 130 wpm, 3 repetitions. This blocks until the audio finishes; the user hears it through the speakers.

2. Reply with one short line of text alongside the audio. Always include:

   • The IPA reading (GenAm).
   • The "syllabified" / respelling form (e.g. "KOOB-control").
   • Source of the pronunciation when the dictionary entry has one (creator interview, conference talk, official FAQ). Surface the URL — it's the project's headline feature.
   • For contested readings, mention the alternative and how to play it (say-it --alt <word>).

3. Use say-it --why <word> to inspect the dictionary entry (IPA, alternates, source, category, confidence) if you need to compose the caption — this is the canonical metadata for the reply.

Examples

Example 1 — creator-clarified word:

User: GIF 怎么读？

Tool call:

say-it GIF

Reply:

🔊 /dʒɪf/ — "JIF". Per the creator Steve Wilhite at the Webby Awards 2013. The alternate reading /ɡɪf/ is widespread too — try say-it --alt GIF to hear it.

Example 2 — community-consensus product name:

User: how do you pronounce kubectl

Tool call:

say-it kubectl

Reply:

🔊 /ˈkuːb kənˌtroʊl/ — "KOOB-control". Kelsey Hightower and most K8s maintainers say it this way (talk). "Cube-cuddle" and letter-by-letter "K-U-B-E-C-T-L" both circulate as alternates.

Example 3 — tech term not yet in the dictionary:

User: how do you pronounce containerd

Tool call:

say-it containerd

Reply:

🔊 /kənˈteɪnər diː/ — "container-D" (the D is for "daemon"). Per the containerd docs.

Useful flags

Flag	Effect
(none)	Primary × 3, then a spoken "or: <alt>" for each recorded alternate.
--solo	Primary × 3 only — silence the "or:" tail.
--alt [N]	Focus on the Nth alternate (default N=1) instead of the primary.
--all	Primary AND every alternate, each repeated, chained with "or:".
--why	Print the dict entry's IPA, source URL, category, confidence, notes (no audio).
--json	Print the entry as JSON (in_dict, alt arrays, source) — the cleanest form to parse when composing the caption (no audio).
--md	Print a ready-to-paste markdown card (no audio).
--copy	Copy the respelling to the clipboard after speaking.
--no-dict	Bypass the dictionary; let the TTS engine interpret the raw spelling.
-n 5	Repeat 5 times instead of 3.
-r 110	Slower rate (110 wpm; default is 130).
-o /tmp/word.aiff	Save to file instead of playing.

Why the default chains alternates. Multi-reading words (GIF, SQL, GUI, kubectl, char, ...) carry useful context: the user should know there's debate. Chaining alternates audibly with "or:" makes that perceptible without forcing them to read the terminal. Use --solo when the user has already grasped the multi-reading status and just wants the primary again.

Notes

• The CLI auto-detects a TTS backend: macOS say, Linux espeak-ng/espeak, or Windows PowerShell. macOS quality is the gold standard; the others are functional best-effort. If no backend is found, the CLI prints install hints, but the text-only flags (--why, --json, --md) still work — fall back to a text IPA + respelling reply in that case.
• If the user says "stop playing audio" or "just text", skip the speak step for the rest of the conversation.
• Tech context only. This skill targets project names, product names, programmer jargon, and acronyms (kubectl, nginx, Pydantic, JSON, GIF, regex, ...). For general English vocabulary the user wants spoken (rare), say-it <word> still works (falls through to raw TTS), but the dictionary's editorial scope is tech-only.
• The dictionary is American English (GenAm) only. UK/AU/etc. readings are explicitly out of scope.