The word "SLAD" is spelled with four letters, s-l-a-d, and is pronounced /slæd/. The first sound, /s/, is a voiceless alveolar sibilant. The second sound, /l/, is a voiced alveolar lateral approximant. The third sound, /æ/, is a front unrounded vowel. The final sound, /d/, is a voiced alveolar stop. The spelling of "SLAD" follows the English language's phonetic rules, using letters to represent the sounds heard in the pronunciation of the word.