Pronunciation

How to spell pronunciation

13 letters · 5 syllables

The most common mistake is pronounciation. The letters people get wrong are highlighted.

pronounciation pronunciation

What people typed instead

• pronounciation3 people

How to pronounce pronunciation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pronunciation mean?

1. nounThe way in which a word or language is spoken, or the act of producing speech sounds.

Pronunciation in a sentence

• British and American pronunciation differ.

• Her pronunciation of foreign words is excellent.

• Check the pronunciation in the dictionary.

Where does pronunciation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin pronuntiationem, a noun of action built on the verb pronuntiare, which meant 'to proclaim, announce, or declaim aloud'. That verb combined pro, meaning 'forth' or 'forward', with nuntiare, 'to announce or report', itself from nuntius, 'a messenger'. English took the word in through Old French during the late 1300s, when it referred broadly to formal declaration or recitation before it narrowed to its modern sense: the manner in which words are sounded. The crucial spelling trap is that although the related verb is spelled 'pronounce' with that visible 'o-u', the noun drops it to 'pronunciation', mirroring the Latin nuntiare rather than the English verb. The same nuntiare root also gives us 'announce', 'denounce', and 'renounce', a family worth recalling to anchor the missing 'o'.

How the word is built

• pro- (forth)
• nunci/nounce (from nuntiare: to announce, report)
• -ation (noun of action)