Do you have impeccable pronunciation, or do you always end up muddling your words?
The answer may lie in how many of these words you can pronounce correctly.
Experts from Unscramblerer.com have revealed the UK’s most mispronounced words – with Niamh topping the list.
‘Our research about the most searched for mispronunciations gives an interesting insight into United Kingdom’s culture,’ a spokesperson for the site explained.
‘Exposure to new words through media, music, pop culture and social platforms drives curiosity.
‘People often look up pronunciations if there is a gap between how a word or name is spelled and how it sounds.’
So, have you been saying these words correctly?
Tap or hover over the terms in our interactive chart below to find out the true pronunciation.
The analysis revealed that two Irish names top the list – ‘Niamh’ (searched for 124,800 times in the UK this year), and Saoirse (109,200 searches). Pictured: actress Saoirse Ronan
To understand the most mispronounced words, Unscramblerer.com turned to Google Trends and Ahrefs.
‘We used Google Trends to discover the most mispronounced words and Ahrefs to find the number of searches,’ it explained.
‘United Kingdom’s most mispronounced words can be discovered in Google Trends by searching for “How do you pronounce”, “pronunciations of” and “How to pronounce”.
‘Ahrefs shows many variations of pronunciation searches like “croissant pronunciation” or “how do you pronounce jalapeno”.
‘We added up 100 search variations of top mispronouncing searches.’
The analysis revealed that two Irish names top the list – ‘Niamh’ (searched for 124,800 times in the UK this year), and Saoirse (109,200 searches).
Meaning ‘bright’ or ‘radiant,’ Niamh is pronounced ‘NEEV’, while Saoirse – meaning ‘freedom’ – is pronounced ‘SER–sha’.
Next on the list is ‘gyro’ – a popular Greek dish, typically made with lamb, beef, or chicken.
It’s a product found in most kitchen cupboards, but do you know how to properly pronounce ‘Worcestershire sauce’?
Acai (assa–ee) is a small, dark purple berry from a palm tree native to South America, widely known as a superfood
While many Brits pronounce this as ‘GEE–roh’ or ‘JEE–roh’, the correct pronunciation is actually ‘YEE–roh’.
Gyro isn’t the only food item to have Brits confused.
Other foods we’ve been pronouncing wrong include ‘croissant’ (kwah–son), ‘Worcestershire sauce’ (wuss–tuh–shuh sauce), and ‘acai’ (assa–ee).
If you struggle with any of these words, don’t worry – Unscramblerer.com explains that the English language is ‘particularly irregular’.
‘English spelling only matches pronunciation about 75% of the time (University of Oxford research),’ it explained.
‘A Cambridge University linguistics survey found that over 60% of English speakers admit they regularly mispronounce at least one common word.
‘Correct pronunciation is closely tied to perceived intelligence and competence.
‘The desire for correct pronunciation is a mix of avoiding social embarrassment and simple curiosity.
‘No wonder people are searching for how to pronounce words.’
