How do you say this fruits name? Proper Pronunciation.

[Patrick]

From time to time we all have wondered the right way to pronounce a particular fruit name.  Maybe we could all provide insight as to the pronunciation of some of the ones that are most commonly mispronounced.

[Patrick]

Cogshall - (Cogs-Hall)

Maha Chanok - (Ma-Ha Chan-Ok)

[HMHausman]

Cogshall - (Cogs-Hall)

Maha Chanok - (Ma-Ha Chan-Ok)

You say tomato and I say Cog-shall and Maha Sha-nook

[johnb51]

Is it "lie-chee" or "lee-chee" (lychee)?  Is it true Chinese dialects pronounce it differently?  I like "lie-chee" because it doesn't sound like those nasty things that can cling to your body.  Then there's Hass avocado.  Those that knew Mr. Hass say his pronunciation rhymed with "ass."  (But he was not an ass!)  Others say it can be pronounced "hahss."

[mangomike]

If you're British, you might refer to your derriere as your "ahss"..

[ScottR]

John's got the Ha-ass avocado right!

[bsbullie]

Cogshall - (Cogs-Hall)

Maha Chanok - (Ma-Ha Chan-Ok)

You say tomato and I say Cog-shall and Maha Sha-nook

and I say Ma-ha-sha-nook, as in all one word rather than the "Maha" and "Sha-nook" being two different.

[Tropicalgrower89]

Cogshall - (Cogs-Hall)

It will always be known as Cog-shall for me. lol

[fruitlovers]

Is it "lie-chee" or "lee-chee" (lychee)?  Is it true Chinese dialects pronounce it differently?  I like "lie-chee" because it doesn't sound like those nasty things that can cling to your body.  Then there's Hass avocado.  Those that knew Mr. Hass say his pronunciation rhymed with "ass."  (But he was not an ass!)  Others say it can be pronounced "hahss."

Here it's always pronounced lie-chee, and spelled lychee. In many other countries it's pronounced lee-chee and spelled litchi. So you can usually tell from spelling in which of the 2 ways it's pronounced in that area. Whichever wqy it's prounced it's still yumee. Or is it yummy?? 

[Mike T]

Maha -shanook ie ragarding the king.In English Lie-chee,rarely lit chee nut in thai lin-gee.

[TropicalFruitHunters]

My wife pronounces it maha sha-noak...almost like oak tree.

[Patrick]

What about Pim Sen Mun? Or is it Pim Sane Mun, or Pim sin Moon? I always think of people in other countries pronoucing things like Apple and Orange wrong.  Oh very nice Aw-pool or Or-an-jay.  It just seems that if we use the foreign spelling, maybe we should work on the proper pronunciation.

[HMHausman]

My wife pronounces it maha sha-noak...almost like oak tree.

What does a native Thai woman know about the pronunciation of a Thai mango? My pronunciation came from a red headed now American ex-patriot living n Thailand.  I know who I am going to listen to.

[Mike T]

Mine was from a thai person as well who is a mango enthusiast.Mun River really is wider than a mile.I wonder how much words need to be changed when becoming english.Siam is see-arm in thai and we don't say cities as locals do in other countries...ie mockba,paree,roma.Some names can't easily be pronounced.

[mangomandan]

Mun River really is wider than a mile.

 

[red durian]

Is it "lie-chee" or "lee-chee" (lychee)?  Is it true Chinese dialects pronounce it differently?  I like "lie-chee" because it doesn't sound like those nasty things that can cling to your body.  Then there's Hass avocado.  Those that knew Mr. Hass say his pronunciation rhymed with "ass."  (But he was not an ass!)  Others say it can be pronounced "hahss."

My guess is that since it is a SE Asian fruit and since SE Asian languages tend not to have the vowel sound in lie, it probably was originally pronounced lee  English is allowed to change, though, so if enough people say lie, then lie becomes an accepted pronunciation.

The funniest mispronunciation that I know of happens in Hawaii where a lot of people say tumeric instead of turmeric.

[Mike T]

Turmeric and tumeric are both correct and the latter is the only way to say it in Australia.There are many examples where american english differs from othere places.Just with herbs basil and oregano are examples.I think there is not much mileage in disputing which standard english pronunciation is 'more correct'.

[Cookie Monster]

haha

Morrissey Moon River

[BMc]

Ja-ckfroot (acutee over the t)

[DuncanYoung]

jaboticaba. Jaw-bought or jaw-boat?

[murahilin]

jaboticaba. Jaw-bought or jaw-boat?

This is what is sounds like to me when a Brazilian pronounces it... jah boo tchi ca ba.

[murahilin]

Is it "lie-chee" or "lee-chee" (lychee)?  Is it true Chinese dialects pronounce it differently?  I like "lie-chee" because it doesn't sound like those nasty things that can cling to your body.  Then there's Hass avocado.  Those that knew Mr. Hass say his pronunciation rhymed with "ass."  (But he was not an ass!)  Others say it can be pronounced "hahss."

My guess is that since it is a SE Asian fruit and since SE Asian languages tend not to have the vowel sound in lie, it probably was originally pronounced lee  English is allowed to change, though, so if enough people say lie, then lie becomes an accepted pronunciation.

The funniest mispronunciation that I know of happens in Hawaii where a lot of people say tumeric instead of turmeric.

The difference has to do with the Cantonese and Mandarin pronunciation. If I remember correctly, in Cantonese its pronounced "lie" and in Mandarin its "lee". There is in fact the vowel sound in "lie" in Mandarin and Cantonese.

[Mango Stein]

Any English speaker who pronounces it "lee-chee" is just wrong. It is spelled lychee for good reason and clearly the first functional vowel is spelled differently from the second. Murahilin is correct about the Cantonese vs Mandarin difference - the former having more senior priority as the species originates in the Cantonese-speaking South.

"Ischia fig" is something that is always pronounced incorrectly. Rhymes with skier. Also "Panachee" (correct spelling) should rhyme with nashi (the pear). Or just translate from the French as "Variegated". The thing is, it's hardly a cultivar (maybe a cultigen?) as it is just a sport of the cultivar Mallea and genetically indistinguishable from it using current technology. Just about any cultivar can throw out a variegated (or panachee'd) sport or seedling. The Spanish have been more studious and use the term "rimada" in conjunction with various cultivar names.

Regarding the Myrtle genus "Myrciaria" I have always wondered how it is pronounced and now I know thanks to Lorenzi that the 'c' is pronounced like an 's'. https://youtu.be/uPA6dDfdh9w?t=35m37s

[Guanabanus]

In classical Latin (not church Latin) and Greek, the "c" is pronounced as 'k".  So meer-kee-AH-ree-ah.  But changing the "c" to "s" is extremely common throughout academia in western European languages, so if you are not into bucking the flow, that is probably how you will say it.

[Mango Stein]

In classical Latin (not church Latin) and Greek, the "c" is pronounced as 'k".  So meer-kee-AH-ree-ah.  But changing the "c" to "s" is extremely common throughout academia in western European languages, so if you are not into bucking the flow, that is probably how you will say it.

And Greek? No, I do not think that is true. C was pronounced as S in Greek and the letter actually looked halfway inbetween the two modern letters that it is ancestor to. I am talking about Sigma (Σ, ς). Look at the lower case form and how it has a small flick beneath the c. The Greeks had Kappa (Κ, κ) for the other phoneme.

[savemejebus]

"lemon zest"

pronounced: "nom nom nom"

[Guanabanus]

Thank you for the correction about the Greek:  so it is "meer-see-AH-ree-ah."

[knlim000]

don't forget about the illama  .   how  do you say it?  I can't even spell it.  Isn't it the same as the animal?

[Seanny]

e za ma

[SoCal2warm]

Is it "lie-chee" or "lee-chee" (lychee)?  Is it true Chinese dialects pronounce it differently?

I'm told by a Chinese acquaintance who is both fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin that "lee-chee" is the Cantonese pronunciation, while "lai-chee" is the Mandarin one. Being that lychee is endigenous to Cantonese territory, I'm inclined to think the first pronunciation may be more appropriate, but there's really no right one.

For some reason the spelling Lychee tends to be associated with the pronunciation "lee-chee", while Litchi tends to be associated with the pronunciation "lai-chee".

Perhaps not very relevant but the Japanese language would be inclined to pronounce it "lee-chee" (romanization: ri-chi).

[Mango Stein]

Is it "lie-chee" or "lee-chee" (lychee)?  Is it true Chinese dialects pronounce it differently?

I'm told by a Chinese acquaintance who is both fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin that "lee-chee" is the Cantonese pronunciation, while "lai-chee" is the Mandarin one. Being that lychee is endigenous to Cantonese territory, I'm inclined to think the first pronunciation may be more appropriate, but there's really no right one.

For some reason the spelling Lychee tends to be associated with the pronunciation "lee-chee", while Litchi tends to be associated with the pronunciation "lai-chee".

Perhaps not very relevant but the Japanese language would be inclined to pronounce it "lee-chee" (romanization: ri-chi).

You got just about everything wrong in the above post. This stuff is rather easy to check.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lychee
https://translate.google.com/#en/ja/lychee (click speaker icon for pronunciation)

[Daintree]

I just use the botanical name, especially for my plants that have really long names, and hope it makes me sound smart!
My favorite plant to say right now is my Ricinodendron heudelotii...
Right or wrong, I pronounce it Rye-sin-oh-DEN-dron hew-dah-LOT-ee-eye.
My daughter-in-law calls it Njangsa, and I just can't get the correct Nj sound.
Hmmm.

Carolyn

[Guanabanus]

ilama is spelled with one 'I' and only one 'L', and is pronounced "ee-LAH-mah". It is short for Ilama-Sapote--- "old woman's sapote".  The people in Mexico who called it this had no knowledge of the South American animal, whose name is spelled with two 'L's'.  The double 'LL' is pronounced with the whole front half of the tongue firmly pressed against the roof of one's mouth.  The confusion was largely produced by overly economical typewriters and fonts that used the same key for the number one as for the lower case of 'L' and as for the upper case of 'i.'