IPA, or International Phonetic Alphabet, is a standardized system of symbols used to represent the sounds of spoken language. It was developed by the International Phonetic Association to provide a consistent way to transcribe the sounds of any language, regardless of the writing system used for that language. IPA symbols correspond to specific sounds, rather than letters of the alphabet, making it easier to accurately represent the pronunciation of words in different languages. IPA is commonly used in linguistics, language teaching, speech therapy, and other fields where precise phonetic transcription is important.