Language check

You're saying it wrong! 10 words most people mispronounce

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English is full of words that don’t sound the way they look. Some borrow foreign pronunciations, while others have silent letters or unexpected stresses. These tricky words can trip up even native speakers and language experts. From colonel to victuals, here are 10 common words that most people mispronounce.

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Correct pronunciation: KUR-nuhl

Despite the absence of an "r" in its spelling, colonel is pronounced KUR-nuhl. This is because the word comes from the French coronel. While English eventually adopted the Italian spelling, it retained the French pronunciation.

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Correct pronunciation: WENZ-day

In American English, the middle d in Wednesday is silent, making it WENZ-day. The word comes from Old English Wodnesdæg, meaning "Woden’s day," a reference to the Norse god Odin. As the word evolved into Modern English, its pronunciation and spelling drifted apart.

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Correct pronunciation: NYAW-kee

This Italian pasta name isn’t pronounced GAH-noh-chee but NYAW-kee. In Italian, the gn sound is similar to the ñ in Spanish, while the ch makes a k sound, following standard Italian pronunciation rules.

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Correct pronunciation: duh-BREE

The s in debris is silent because it’s a French loanword. In French, final consonants are often silent unless followed by a vowel, which explains why we pronounce it duh-BREE.

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Correct pronunciation: FOH

Faux, meaning "false" in French, is pronounced FOH, with a silent x. It follows French pronunciation rules, where eaux typically sounds like a long o.

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Correct pronunciation: ri-SEET

The silent p in receipt comes from the Latin recepta. While Middle English speakers once pronounced it, the sound disappeared over time, though the spelling remained unchanged.

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Correct pronunciation: SEG-way

Though it looks like seg-you, it’s pronounced _SEG-way_—yes, just like the Segway vehicle. The word originally comes from the Italian segue, meaning "to follow."

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Correct pronunciation: KASH

Cache, meaning a hidden store of items, is pronounced KASH. It comes from the French cacher ("to hide"), where the e is silent. Many mistakenly say cash-ay, confusing it with cachet.

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Correct pronunciation: MOHV or MAWV

Many pronounce mawv like the aw in straw, but in British English, it’s often closer to mohv. The word comes from French, where au makes an oh sound, though English speakers have regional variations.

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Correct pronunciation: VIT-uhlz

Victuals (meaning food supplies) is pronounced VIT-uhlz, not VIK-choo-alls. It derives from the Latin victualia, but while the spelling was preserved, the pronunciation evolved.

Forgotten roots

Secret origins: The 12 languages that shaped modern English

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Like geological layers of rocks, languages are built over time, each layer preserving traces of cultural and linguistic events that give shape to its present form. Modern English is not an exception, and its rich history forms a complex tapestry of diverse influences across centuries. From conquerors to traders, each left an indelible mark on its vocabulary, grammar, and idioms. Join us to explore which 12 languages are key to understanding the English we speak today.

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Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon, is the bedrock of modern English. Introduced by Germanic tribes in the 5th century, it gave us many everyday words like house, king, or love.

Anglo-Saxon provided English with its core structure, including basic grammar rules and common prefixes like un- and over-. Though heavily transformed later, its legacy remains in our simplest and most essential words.

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Most Latin words entered English through Christian missionaries during the 6th and 7th centuries, introducing terms related to religion, education, and law, such as altar and scripture.

However, long before the Germanic tribes that gave rise to Old English reached Britain, many Latin words for common objects had already entered their vocabulary. Later, with the Norman Conquest, Latin's influence was further amplified through French.

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After the Norman Conquest in the 11th century, Anglo-Norman (a variety of French) became the language of the elite, influencing law, art, and cuisine. Words like court, beauty, and dinner all come from this period.

Over the centuries, French contributed more than 10,000 words to English, resulting in a dual-register vocabulary. Have you ever noticed that words like help have synonyms like aid, or that start can also be said as commence?

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Through Anglo-Saxon, English actually shares roots with German, which is evident in words like mother, brother, and night. Moreover, even the word English has a Germanic source, derived from Anglisc, an ancient dialect that evolved into Old English in later centuries.

Direct borrowing in the 19th century added terms like kindergarten and zeitgeist. The German impact is also seen in philosophical and scientific vocabulary, reflecting its intellectual contributions during the Enlightenment and beyond.

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Greek entered English primarily via scholarly Latin during the Renaissance, giving us terms like philosophy, democracy, and psychology. In fact, it is estimated that more than 150,000 words of English are derived from Greek words!

Despite the temporal and linguistic distances, Ancient Greek had a profound influence on English. This is particularly evident in science and medicine, where compound words like biology (bios = life, logos = study) form the backbone of technical language, but many common words also have Greek roots.

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Before the Germanic tribes arrived and brought Anglo-Saxon with them, the native Celtic inhabitants of Britain had their own language and culture. However, their encounters with the newcomers were far from friendly, leading to a lack of cultural and linguistic integration.

Despite this, Celtic languages still influenced place names like Avon and Thames, as well as many surnames and words like bard and whiskey. And in the areas of land where Celtic culture remained dominant, new languages such as Irish, Welsh, and Gaelic evolved.

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A long-time maritime power that competed with England for dominance of the seas, the Netherlands contributed many nautical terms, such as yacht, skipper, and reef, but also many everyday words, like cookie and landscape.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Dutch-English trade interactions solidified these linguistic exchanges, especially in shipping and art.

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Even the fearsome Vikings contributed to English! The Viking invasions of the 8th–11th centuries introduced many Old Norse words, such as sky, knife, and window, into English.

Perhaps more importantly, the influence of Old Norse simplified English grammar by blending its inflections with Old English, streamlining verb forms and case endings. This legacy persists to this day in many words related to everyday life and nature.

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Early 16th-century trade and cultural exchange brought many Italian terms into English, especially in music, art, and cuisine. Italy’s artistic dominance during the Renaissance made its vocabulary integral to describing classical art, architecture, and all sorts of culinary sophistication.

Words like piano, opera, and spaghetti are living proof of this influence.

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During the Islamic Golden Age, Arab scholars preserved Greek knowledge and made groundbreaking advancements in fields like mathematics and astronomy. Many Arabic-derived terms became essential in both science and trade.

As a result, Arabic enriched English—though primarily through Spanish and Latin translations—introducing many words such as alchemy, sugar, or algebra.

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Through Britain’s long-lasting colonial rule in India, many Indian words, such as shampoo, bungalow, and curry, found their way into English. These loanwords were often adopted to describe unfamiliar objects, animals, and cultural practices.

But long before the colonial era, many Indian words originating in Sanskrit and other local languages had already entered Greek and Latin through trade routes. Words like pepper, indigo, and ginger can be traced back to this time.

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Spanish influence on English can be traced back to the 1500s, when English sailors and colonists encountered Spanish explorers on the high seas and in the New World colonies. Exploration and trade with Spanish-speaking regions introduced words like banana, patio, and cargo.

Another unexpected source of Spanish words came from the Anglo-Spanish Wars, during which England and Spain were fierce rivals. Despite the hostilities, English adopted Spanish-derived terms such as armada and breeze.