iː
Long ee, as in see
The vowel of see, she and me. Compare /ɪ/: sit is short and relaxed, see is long and tense.
Long vowels in IPA and the length mark ː
The mark that looks like a colon is not one. It is two small triangles, ː, and it means the sound before it is long. British dictionaries use it on five vowels, so see is /siː/ and car is /kɑː/.
Length is only half of it. The long vowel of see is also higher and tenser than the short vowel of sit, so /iː/ and /ɪ/ are different symbols as well as different lengths. That difference is the whole reason sheep and ship are different words.
Notice what the transcriptions do with r. In British English the r of car, door and bird is not pronounced, so it is not written: car is /kɑː/. That is IPA doing its job - writing sounds, not letters.
The symbols
ɑː
Long ah, as in car
The open back vowel of car and father. The r is silent in British English, so it is not in the transcription.
ɔː
Long aw, as in door
The rounded vowel of door, talk and four - three spellings, one symbol.
uː
Long oo, as in food
The vowel of food, too and zoo. Compare /ʊ/: good is short, food is long.
ɜː
The vowel of bird
A reversed epsilon. The vowel of bird, work and first: three spellings, and in British English no r at all.
Drill
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Part of Kilo Lingo Plus - the lesson above is free to read.
Which word is this?
/liːv/