Revealed: The commonly mispronounced words that infuriate Brits… so, are YOU saying them correctly?
Do you have perfect pronunciation or do you always mix up your words?
The answer may depend on how many of these words you can pronounce correctly.
Experts at Unscramblerer.com have revealed the most mispronounced words in the UK; Niamh is at the top of the list.
“Our research into the most searched mispronunciations provides an interesting insight into UK culture,” a spokesperson for the site said.
‘Encountering new words through media, music, popular culture and social platforms arouses curiosity.
‘If there is a gap between the spelling of a word or name and how it sounds, people often look at its pronunciation.’
So, did you say these words correctly?
Tap or hover over the terms in our interactive table below to learn the correct pronunciation.
The analysis revealed two Irish names top the list: ‘Niamh’ (searched 124,800 times in the UK this year) and Saoirse (109,200 searches). Pictured: actress Saoirse Ronan
To understand the most commonly mispronounced words, unscramblerer.com I turned to Google Trends and Ahrefs.
“We used Google Trends to discover the most mispronounced words and Ahrefs to find the number of searches,” he explained.
‘The UK’s most mispronounced words can be discovered by searching “How to pronounce”, “pronunciations” and “How to pronounce” on Google Trends.
‘Ahrefs shows many variations of pronunciation searches, such as “how to pronounce croissant” or “how to pronounce jalapeno”.
‘We’ve added 100 search variations of the most common mispronunciation searches.’
The analysis revealed two Irish names top the list: ‘Niamh’ (searched 124,800 times in the UK this year) and Saoirse (109,200 searches).
Niamh, meaning ‘bright’ or ‘radiant’, is pronounced ‘NEEV’, while Saoirse, meaning ‘freedom’, is pronounced ‘SER–sha’.
Next on the list is ‘gyro’, a popular Greek dish usually made with lamb, beef or chicken.
It’s an item found in most kitchen cupboards, but do you know how to pronounce ‘Worcestershire sauce’ correctly?
Acai (assa-ee) is a small, dark purple fruit from a palm tree native to South America and widely known as a superfood.
While many British people pronounce it as ‘GEE–roh’ or ‘JEE–roh’, the correct pronunciation is actually ‘YEE–roh’.
Gyro isn’t the only food item that confuses Brits.
Other foods we misspelled include ‘croissant’ (kwah–son), ‘Worcestershire sauce’ (wuss–tuh–shuh sauce) and ‘acai’ (assa–ee).
If you’re having difficulty with any of these words, don’t worry; Unscramblerer.com explains that the English language is ‘particularly disorganized’.
‘English spelling matches pronunciation only 75% of the time (University of Oxford research),’ he explained.
‘University of Cambridge linguistics research has found that more than 60% of English speakers admit to mispronouncing at least one common word on a regular basis.
‘Correct pronunciation is closely linked to perceived intelligence and competence.
‘The desire for correct pronunciation is a mixture of avoiding social embarrassment and simple curiosity.
‘No wonder people search for how to pronounce words.’
