How do you pronounce 'xenophobic'?

[Synobun]

@Arakhor selfishly derailed the Guess A Map thread, seen here, and we got into a side tangent about how 'xenophobic' is pronounced.

It was my position that English natives pronounce it 'zeeno'-phobic, whereas ESL speakers pronounce it 'zenno'-phobic. This mostly matches up with my experience, but Arakhor suggests that the British norm is also 'zenno'-phobic.

Well, I can't stand for this. We need cold, hard numbers.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

ZEE but the first 'o' definitely has a more "uh" sound when I say it than a pure "oh" sound. I'm from US.

 

[Synobun]

ZEE but the first 'o' definitely has a more "uh" sound when I say it than a pure "oh" sound. I'm from US.

I asked this in a FB group as well and I'm seeing both the 'uh' and 'ah' response from the Southeast and people from the Illinois area there too.

Interesting.

 

[stinkubus]

Midwesterners have a very annoying habit of deliberately mispronouncing words which are obviously foreign in origin.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I thought Canadians and Brits pronounced it "zednophobic."

 

[Lexicus]

I dunno, I pronounce the second vowel sound somewhere between an "uh" and an "oh," maybe more like zeen-au-phobe.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I had to say "Other" because I've used both pronunciations at times (if you're counting how people mentally pronounce words as they're reading them). I couldn't say which is more prevalent.

I thought Canadians and Brits pronounced it "zednophobic."

No.

How do you think we pronounce "zoo" - "zedoo"?

 

[Lohrenswald]

Fremmedfrykt

 

[warpus]

Weird, I've never heard anyone say it as "ZENNO"

 

[Arakhor]

I should clarify that I usually say it closer to zennuh than zenno, but it's definitely a short o.

Weird, I've never heard anyone say it as "ZENNO"

Well, now you can.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Trump

 

[Synobun]

Well, now you can.

Now that we have your voice print, we can use the power of artificial intelligence to get up to no good.

 

[warpus]

That's so weird, but only because I've never heard it said like that.

You know what I find even more weird? The way British people say "height". You guys pronounce the second "h". I can't even do that. I try to pronounce it but then I just sound like someone with a speech impediment

 

[W|M]

Ksenofobic

 

[sophie]

/zinəˈfəʊbɪk/

 

[Hygro]

Zenno, but some other conjugations of xeno get the zeeno treatment.

 

[BenitoChavez]

zeeno with an 'oh' not an 'ah', 'uh', or 'au'.

Midwesterners have a very annoying habit of deliberately mispronouncing words which are obviously foreign in origin.

We aren't mispronouncing the words, everyone else is

 

[The_J]

What, you don't pronounce that word with an actual x ?

 

[warpus]

How do Brits pronounce the word Xeno? Just by itself, whether it's the video game or character or whoever. Zeeno or Zeno?

 

[Arakhor]

I believe that Zeno (the Greek philosopher) is pronounced zeeno, but when it's the Greek root spelt with an x, then it's zenno or zennuh.