IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet, a system used to represent the sounds of spoken language. It provides a consistent way to transcribe the pronunciation of words from any language, making it easier for linguists, language learners, and educators to understand and communicate about speech sounds. The IPA includes symbols for each distinct sound, or phoneme, found in human languages. This allows for precise representation of pronunciation, regardless of the language's writing system. By using IPA, one can accurately convey how words are pronounced, which is especially useful in fields like linguistics, language teaching, and speech therapy.