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Acai and charcuterie among words Brits find hardest to pronounce

Brits' most mispronounced words are acai, segue and charcuterie.

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Nearly half of adults think words should be spelt the way they are said(Image: Getty/Sally Anscombe)

A study of 2,000 adults found many stumble over commonly used words, with other difficult phrases including quinoa, gnocchi and Worcestershire. Chipotle, phenomenon and gyro also featured among the top 10 mispronounced words, with hyperbole, aesthetic and even gif also proving tricky for some Brits.

It also emerged 85% have had someone correct them after poorly pronouncing a word, leaving a quarter of people feeling awkward and embarrassed. Because of this, 24% admitted they arent confident trying to pronounce unfamiliar words. But a further 27% have continued to confidently say a word incorrectly, despite knowing they were still getting it wrong.

[Female entrepreneur explaining business strategies in team meeting at office]

Saying words correctly makes someone look more knowledgeable, according to the survey(Image: Getty/Klaus Vedfelt)

Kirsten Stagg, a spokesperson for koda, which commissioned the research after revealing people have been saying the name of the car manufacturer wrong for years, said: "Sometimes, there are words that simply don't sound how they are spelt, and even everyday terms tend to catch people out.

koda is a perfect example. The distinctive mark above the S, known as a hacek, or caron, can throw people off, and here in the UK the name is commonly pronounced S-co-der rather than the correct Sh-co-da.

Whats great to see from the research is that the majority of people are still willing to have a go, even when theyre unfamiliar with a word and risk getting it wrong.

The study also found more than eight in 10 (85%) of adults believe correct pronunciation is important, with 59% of those believing it helps avoid misunderstandings.

Others think it shows respect for the language (52%), makes them appear more intelligent (38%) and professional (34%). Nearly four in 10 (38%) would even say the way someone pronounces words can influence the impression they have of them.

[Two colleagues, a boss and an employee, in the middle of a dynamic argument.]

People avoid correcting someone's pronunciation to avoid embarrassing them(Image: Getty)

Across generations, attitudes towards mispronunciation vary, with more than half (53%) of Gen Z claiming a persons pronunciation would impact what they think of them, compared to just 24% of Boomers.

Likewise, 57% of Gen Z have been known to correct family, friends and colleagues on their pronunciation, but only 29% of Boomers do the same, according to the OnePoll data.

Among those who avoid correcting others, the most common reasons were not wanting to embarrass them (39%), not wanting to appear rude (35%) and not feeling its their place to do so (33%).

It also emerged 47% of adults believe words should be spelt the way they are said, but three in 10 say social media made them more aware of correct pronunciations.

Stagg added: As a brand whose name people havent always found easy to pronounce, we know better than most that some words can be trickier than others. Thats exactly why weve launched our hhhkoda campaign along the way, hopefully we can help more people discover how we say ours.

Top 20 mispronounced words

1. Acai - mispronunciation: ah-sigh vs. correct pronunciation: ah-sigh-ee"
2. Segue - seeg / seg vs. seg-way
3. Charcuterie - char-koo-ter-ree (harsh c) vs. shar-koo-tuh-ree
4. Quinoa - kwin-wa or kwin-no-a vs. keen-wa
5. Gnocchi - no-kee vs. nyawk-kee
6. Worcestershire - wor-chest-er vs. wus-ter-sher
7. Chipotle - chip-oh-ttul vs. chi-poht-lay
8. Phenomenon - phenom-nom-non vs. phe-nom-enon
9. Gyro - gi-ro vs. yee-ro (rolled r)
10. Similarly - si-mi-ly vs. si-mi-lar-ly
11. Hyperbole - hy-per-bly vs. hy-per-bo-ly
12. Aesthetic - aesth-tic vs. as-the-tic
13. Gif - jif vs. g-if
14. Entrepreneur - on-tre-prener vs. on-tre-pre-neur
15. Colonel - co-lo-nel vs. cur-nel
16. Necessarily - ne-siss-rily vs. ne-siss-sar-ri-ly
17. Specific - spe-sthi-fic vs. spe-ci-fic
18. Espresso - ex-press-o vs. es-press-so
19. Brewery - broo-wry vs. broo-wer-ry
20. Squirrel - skwirl vs. skwi-rrel

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