We all have a word that can leave us tongue-tied.
Whether you struggle with a rolling ‘r’, mispronounce your ‘th’ or stumble over complicated spellings, apparently you’re really not alone.
The good people of the Reddit internet decided to set up a message thread to identify the 10 most difficult words to pronounce in the English language.
With over 5,000 submission, this collection made the final cut…
The 10 most difficult words in the English language to pronounce are:
10 – Rural
Difficulty: The second ‘r’ seems to catch a lot of people out in this one.
Pronounced: ‘rur-ral’
9 – Otorhinolaryngologist
Difficulty: The length of the word. There’s a reason we say the ‘ear, nose and throat’ doctor.
Pronounced: ‘oto-rhino-laryng-ologist’
8 – Colonel
Difficulty: English not your first language? This could really throw you…
Pronounced: ‘Kernel’
7 – Penguin
Difficulty: Despite what some believe, this is NOT pronounced ‘pengwing’.
Pronounced: ‘Pen – gwin’
6 – Sixth
Difficulty: If you have problems with ‘th’, this word can be a nightmare with the preceding ‘x’
Pronounced: As is spelt. It’s just a word some people will stutter over.
5 – Isthmus
Difficulty: Again the ‘th’ in this word could throw people off but it’s best to pretend it’s not there. The word, meaning a narrow strip of land with sea on either side that connects two larger landmasses, made number five on the list, but isn’t actually as hard you might think.
Pronounced: ‘Is-mus’
Image via bruny-islandlife.com
4 – Anemone
Difficulty: This plant name can throw up a lot of versions, but if you’re anything like us, there was a few attempts before we got there…
Pronounced: ‘Uh – Nem – Uh – Knee’
3 – Squirrel
Difficulty: Two rolling ‘r’s is a struggle for some…
Pronounced: Again, as is spelt, but it’s more getting used to the rolling rs that’ll help you overcome this one.
2 – Choir
Difficulty: Again, if English isn’t your first language, you could take a while guessing this one…
Pronounced: ‘Cwy-er’
1 – Worcestershire
Difficulty: We weren’t surprised to see this top the list. It’s just brown sauce ok?
Pronounced: ‘Wus-tish-sure’
