An organization called The WritingTips Institute recently compiled a list of the most difficult words for Americans to pronounce, according to monthly google searches.
The list reads like my greatest blunders, and I wondered if others also struggled with some of these words.
As a service, I’m sharing the words people commonly screw up along with their proper pronunciations. This will hopefully help you avoid the eye rolls and guffaws of co-workers, friends, and — in my case —teenage children.
Surprisingly, not on the list was the word “pronunciation,” which most people mispronounce.
It’s “PRO-NUN-SEE-AY-SHUN.”
Açaí
The most searched for word was Açaí, the tropical super-fruit from Brazil that gets stuck in bowls with granola and sherbert.
Açaí is delicious, but the word is a nightmare. I know how to pronounce it, and I still get it wrong 83 percent of the time. And no offense to my Brazilian friends, but WTF with those squiggly lines?
Açaí is not pronounced like the alternative Walkman some of us purchased in the 80s.
That’s Akai.
Açaí is pronounced “AH-SIGH-EE."
Nguyen
The second most searched for word is Nguyen. We really should get this right, considering it is far and away the most popular surname in Vietnam.
I’m not sure who came up with this English transliteration, but the proper pronunciation of Nguyen doesn’t sound anything like how it is spelled.
You can say Nguyen a few different ways: “WEN” or “WIN.” Northern Vietnamese apparently pronounce in “N’WIN.”
Gyro
Americans have mangled the pronunciation of this delicious Greek sandwich for ages. I have always called it a JY-ROW like gyration. This is wrong. The word is pronounced, “YEE-ROW.”
Omicron
Unless you were studying Greek in high school, you probably didn’t have much familiarity with this word until Covid hit. Then, suddenly, every American was expected to be Greek scholar.
Many of us still have no idea how to pronounce the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet, mangling the word so that it sounds something like “omni tron".”
The correct pronunciation is “OH-MIH-KRON.”
Charcuterie
Without warning, this word appeared on the menu of every trendy restaurant in town. It was a dirty trick. We wanted to order those delicious cured meat and cheese plates, but were too embarrassed to say the word aloud.
I found myself often mumbling it to the waiter. “Yeah, we’ll have the, uh, char-cutie-tooty.”
“What was that, sir?”
“The charcoal, you know, terry.”
“Oh, you mean the “shar-koo-te-ree,” the waiter would say with a self-satisfied smile, as if he knew how to pronounce the damn word before he started working there.
Gif
Can we just solve this word torture once and for all? Is it pronounced “gif” or “jif?” It’s three letters, and nobody seems to know how to say it. GIF is an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format (I just looked it up). That’s easier to pronounce.
According to Merriam-Webster, gif can be pronounced with a hard g, as in “GIF” or a j, as in “JIF.”
So say it whichever way you want — just know I don’t trust people who say “JIF.”
Gnocchi
I grew up in an Italian neighborhood, so I knew this one, but apparently, the silent “G” and “ch” throws a lot of Americans off.
The little chewy dumplings are pronounced “N(Y)OH-KEE’
Kyiv
The Ukranian captial is in the news daily, so it surprised me that this made the list — but here we are.
Some Americans still say “Kiev” (as in the chicken dish), but according to google that’s the transliteration from Russian when the city was still part of the Soviet Union.
Kyiv is from Ukrainian, and it’s pronounced “KEEV.” And while we’re at it, please don’t call it “The Ukraine.” It’s Ukraine.
Worcestershire
Hey England, I’m not Chaucer over here. Can we spell this in modern English? Apparently not. The tangy sauce has been around since 1876 and the people over at Lea & Perrins refuse to update the spelling.
So here’s the correct pronunciation of this letter salad: “WUH-STAH-SHEER” Not to be mistaken with rap sensations “WU-TANG CLAN.”
Any words we missed? Let me know in the comments.
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