The 10 most difficult words to pronounce in the English language
For more than two weeks, users of the online social platform reddit submitted the words they considered to be the hardest English words to pronounce. After more than 5000 submissions, these were the top 10 words the world decided were too hard to pronounce.
10. Rural
Submitted by user ‘mattythedog’, rural appears to cause problem particularly when repeated or put next a word with similar “r” sounds.
One user says: “I cannot say Rural Juror - comes out rurrrerr jerrrerr and sounds like I'm growling.”
9. Otorhinolaryngologist
While the length puts a lot of people off, one internet user points out, “that one looks like a beast, but once you break it down, it's pretty easy to say”.
8. Colonel
Submitted by a user who explains: “If you know that it's pronounced "kernel", it's easy to pronounce. But if you were new to the English language and didn't know that, you would never pronounce it correctly.”
7. Penguin
It was recently revealed British actor Benedict Cumberbatch cannot pronoun the word penguin. Instead he says something akin to “peng wings”.
6. Sixth
Coincidentally sixth in our list, this word is criticised as: “What kind of word is that with an S and xth sound?”
Another says: “Imagine what ‘eighth’ is like to a non-English speaker. Not one letter is pronounced the way it should be.”
5. Isthmus
Meaning a narrow strip of land with sea on either side that connects two larger landmasses, isthmus confuses people with how to pronounce the “s” and “th” sounds together.
4. Anemone
Hard to pronounce and hard to spell, a helpful user suggests: “I'd break it down like ‘Uh - Nem - Uh – Knee’.”
Scoffing at how easy anemone is to pronounce? Try this tongue-twister: “In me, many an enemy anemone enema.”
3. Squirrel
One user says that: “From a foreign perspective, ‘Squirrel’ messes with German exchange students like you wouldn't believe. To be fair though I can't pronounce their word for it either.”
2. Choir
User Kaktu submits: “As a foreign speaker: Choir. Seriously. Why?
Someone suggests helpfully that “it's like 'enquire' but without the 'en'”.
1. Worcestershire
The overwhelming top submission was the word Worcestershire.
“I've heard a few funny pronunciations,” says one user, “Wor-kester-shire. Whats-dis-here. Wooster-shire.”
One user suggests: “It's that ‘-cest-’ in the middle that messes people up. If you break it up like worce-ster-shire, the pronunciation makes sense.”
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