TransWikia.com

Where is 'urinal' pronounced with a long 'i'?

English Language & Usage Asked by Marc Puckett on June 7, 2021

The OED suggests both a short and a long ‘i’ are acceptable without assigning either to the UK or to the US:

  • ur i nal — /ˈjʊərɪnəl/

and

  • ur eye nal — /jʊəˈrnəl/

In my limited experience the only people who pronounce it with the long ‘i’ are from Great Britain. Conversely, I don’t think I’ve ever heard an English person use the pronunciation with the short ‘i’; my sample population is very small, however. Is this a regional-, age-, or class-dependent thing?

3 Answers

I, along with everyone I've ever heard say "urinal", pronounces it with an "ih" sound rather than an "eye" sound. I hope that helped!

Answered by Suzanne on June 7, 2021

The OED gives the pronunciation as both /jʊəˈrʌɪnəl/ and /ˈjʊərɪnəl/ without distinguishing between AE and BE.

I have a tendency towards:

As a noun: a place or vessel in which to urinate /jʊəˈrʌɪnəl/

"The gents' urinals are on the left."

As an adjective: relating to the urinary system, /ˈjʊərɪnəl/

"I am afraid you have a urinal infection."

Answered by Greybeard on June 7, 2021

Wiktionary gives regions for the pronunciations:

(Received Pronunciation) ... IPA: /juːˈɹaɪnəl/

(US) ... IPA: /ˈjʊɹɪnəl/, /ˈjɝɪnəl/

(General Australian) ... IPA: /ˈjʉːəɹɪnəl/

I don't know where you're from, Marc, but Received Pronunciation (RP) is "the Queen's English," and /aɪ/ is the long-i sound you're asking about. It would rhyme with "final."

It looks like Forvo only has recordings for American English, because I was curious about how the Australian one would be pronounced, but it looks like it would rhyme with the American pronunciation, not the British one.

Although Wiktionary doesn't slavishly cite anything, it's regional pronunciations are usually fine, and this agrees with other answers on this page.

Answered by Azor Ahai -him- on June 7, 2021

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP