# pronunciation: route  /ruːt/ vs /raʊt/



## audiolaik

Hello,

I have just learnt that the word _route_ can have two different ways of pronunciation: 

a) /ru:t/

b) /raut/

Are there any differences in meaning between the two forms?

Thank you?


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## Nunty

Interesting. I was just thinking about that a few days ago. I think that I say route to rhyme with doubt when it's a verb (or part of the noun router) and I pronounce it like root when it's an intinerary or a road or something like that.


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## pistakee

As far as I know they always mean the same thing. Of course if you pronounce it the first way it sounds the same as "root", but the context tells the difference.

Seeing the above post, I think I also tend to make the same distinction in pronunciation between noun and verb, though I don't know that you have to.


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## Kevin Beach

/ru:t/ is BE. /raut/ is AE.


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## Nunty

Kevin Beach said:


> /ru:t/ is BE. /raut/ is AE.


Do you mean that Brits pronounce the verb also as /ru:t/? And what do they call that thing that connects several computers to the Internet?


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## GreenWhiteBlue

"Route", which is a word that came from French, was orignally pronounced in the same way as "root" in an approximation of its French pronunciation.  Over time, confusion about the spelling (ou is commonly pronouced as "au"; consider _out_, _lout_, or _pout_) has led people to pronounce it the same way as the word _rout_.  I find this an unfortunate development, and always pronounce _route _as a homophone of _root_, and not of _rout_.



Kevin Beach said:


> /ru:t/ is BE. /raut/ is AE.


 
No, this is not correct.  One hears both pronunciations in both countries.


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## Matching Mole

Nun-Translator said:


> Do you mean that Brits pronounce the verb also as /ru:t/? And what do they call that thing that connects several computers to the Internet?


If the verb means to cause or enable something to go along a route (e.g. an internet router) then it is pronounced root in BE. Only the verbs and nouns spelled "rout" (of which the OED lists 10 verbs alone, mostly obsolete) are pronounced "raut" in BE. The most common verb to rout, of course means to cause to flee in disorder, etc.


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## Kevin Beach

Nun-Translator said:


> Do you mean that Brits pronounce the verb also as /ru:t/? And what do they call that thing that connects several computers to the Internet?


It's always /ru:t/: verb, noun and (with -ing) adjective/participle.


			
				GreenWhiteBlue said:
			
		

> No, this is not correct.  One hears both pronunciations in both countries.


I've never heard it pronounced as /raut/ by any Briton, speaking any of the British accents.

I've also never heard it  pronounced as /ru:t/ in any American film or TV programme - and we've been flooded with those on UK television since the early 1950's!


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## Nunty

Matching Mole said:


> If the verb means to cause or enable something to go along a route (e.g. an internet router) then it is pronounced root in BE. Only the verbs and nouns spelled "rout" (of which the OED lists 10 verbs alone, mostly obsolete) are pronounced "raut" in BE. The most common verb to rout, of course means to cause to flee in disorder, etc.



And to root means to dig around in something. Or to cheer.

An internet "rooter" (but spelled router)? I'd never have thought it.


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## MarcB

Kevin Beach said:


> It's always /ru:t/: verb, noun and (with -ing) adjective/participle.
> 
> I've never heard it pronounced as /raut/ by any Briton, speaking any of the British accents.
> 
> I've also never heard it  pronounced as /ru:t/ in any American film or TV programme - and we've been flooded with those on UK television since the early 1950's!


In US English I hear both frequently regardless of the region of the country.I cannot recall which I hear more on the media. Both pronunciations are said for the verb and noun. Router for computers I always hear as "out".
There is a plumbing company named roto-router as in root.


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## ewie

It pains me to say it but I agree with KevinB.  I don't recall ever hearing an American person (on the telly thing) say /root/ for _route.  _Maybe we just don't get the right kind of telly programmes imported.  Who knows?
The machine which makes holes in wood is a /rauter/, rhymes with _doubter_.


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## WestSideGal

As a child growing up in NYC I always said /raut/ (not that there was much occasion for this word in the city!!!!), but when I became acquainted with people from Northern NJ they said both /ru:t/ and /raut/.  Within the US, I've heard both used, with /ru:t/ being the most frequently heard in my experience.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

ewie said:


> It pains me to say it but I agree with KevinB. I don't recall ever hearing an American person (on the telly thing) say /root/ for _route._


 
In which case you have never seen me on the telly thing, for I am an American person, and I have always said /root/.  I am also not alone; you  might want to go to YouTube and search for Nat King Cole singing "Route 66", which was a popular song in its day; I have never heard any American singer who has since covered it pronounce it any way besides /root/.

Even if _no_ person in the UK _ever_ pronounces either the noun or the verb _route _as /raut/, Kevin's statement is still incorrect: there is not just one AE pronunciation. Some Americans may say /raut/, but all do not, and those of us who say /root/ instead (and there are millions of us...) are still speaking AE, and not BE.


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## Matching Mole

In the song "Route 66" it's always sung "root", is it not? I just listened to the Nat King Cole version, and he pronounces it "root".


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## ewie

It is nonetheless the case, GWB, that neither KB nor I can recall ever hearing an American use your/our pronunciation of _route_.
I suppose what KB _meant_ to say was: *So far as we in the UK are aware, /raut/ is an American pronunciation, /root/ is the British pronunciation.*

KB: Please do _your own_ shovelwork in future


*EDIT:* Oh dear. The only versions of _Route 66_ that I know of are by Brits: The Rolling Stones and Depeche Mode.  (And I may have imagined The Rolling Stones'.)


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## HistofEng

I hear both pronunciations from AE speakers all the time. I'm from Miami (which doesn't name streets 'routes') and New York (which has plenty).


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## trevorb

I was completely unaware of the US pronunciation /raut/ until I started to hear it in relation to computer networking.

I have to confess (and I'm sure this will pain a lot of my compatriots), I sometimes even hear Brits pronounce it this way now when referring to the boxes that direct network traffic. It's sometimes because they've just come off the phone to America, and sometimes because the pronunciation has begun to stick.

We Brits may not plan to motor west, but we end up going that way anyway!

Trevor.


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## MarcB

ewie said:


> It is nonetheless the case, GWB, that neither KB nor I can recall ever hearing an American use your/our pronunciation of _route_.
> I suppose what KB _meant_ to say was: *So far as we in the UK are aware, /raut/ is an American pronunciation, /root/ is the British pronunciation.*
> 
> KB: Please do _your own_ shovelwork in future
> 
> 
> *EDIT:* Oh dear. The only versions of _Route 66_ that I know of are by Brits: The Rolling Stones and Depeche Mode.  (And I may have imagined The Rolling Stones'.)


All of the versions I have heard it's root 66 including the actual highway, in fact even AE speakers who say raut say root for numbered routes. There was also a tv series (root)  route 66. So we can conclude that root is BE and both root and raut are AE.


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## Joelline

I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and, growing up, all I ever heard was "root."  I now live 30 miles east of Pittsburgh and I hear "rout" used more often than "root."  Some people around here say that they can tell where a person was raised by how he/she pronounces "route" (but I don't know the secret!).


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## piraña utria

Good evening, fellows.

I'm currently listening to a Manitoban podcast in which 'route' is pronounced without hesitation in a similar way as 'doubt', obviously with an "r" instead of its initial "d". 

Is it just a regional tendency or is it a common option?.

Thanks in advance for your answers,

<< Moderators note: This thread has been merged with an earlier thread. >>


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## GreenWhiteBlue

It is common throughout North America.  The fact that it is common, of course, does not make it either attractive or correct...


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## Dimcl

You will find both pronunciations in Canada.  It does not surprise me in the least to hear the pronunciation as in "doubt" because, to my mind, that is a common American pronunciation and many Americans came north and settled on the Canadian prairies in the early 20th century.  

My husband is from Saskatchewan (the province just west of Manitoba) and his father was one of those American immigrants and my husband has always pronounced "route" with the "doubt" sound.  I was raised in the westernmost province of Canada and I've always pronounced it as "root".

In answer to your question - I'm not sure that it can even be described as "regional" anymore.  I hear it said both ways all the time but I think that's because of the transient nature of our society today.

I do believe that many more Americans than Canadians pronounce it with the "doubt" sound.


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## piraña utria

Dimcl said:


> You will find both pronunciations in Canada. It does not surprise me in the least to hear the pronunciation as in "doubt" because, to my mind, that is a common American pronunciation and many Americans came north and settled on the Canadian prairies in the early 20th century.
> 
> My husband is from Saskatchewan (the province just west of Manitoba) and his father was one of those American immigrants and my husband has always pronounced "route" with the "doubt" sound. I was raised in the westernmost province of Canada and I've always pronounced it as "root".
> 
> In answer to your question - I'm not sure that it can even be described as "regional" anymore. I hear it said both ways all the time but I think that's because of the transient nature of our society today.
> 
> I do believe that many more Americans than Canadians pronounce it with the "doubt" sound.


 
What interesting facts and explanation, Dimcl! 

Thank you very much.

Regards,


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## mplsray

It appears that no one in this thread has mentioned an interesting statement in the etymology of the noun _route_ in the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989) highlighted in bold below:



> [The word _route_ was] not finally adopted until the beginning of the 18th [century]; from that time down to _c_1800 the usual spelling was _rout_. The pronunciation (raʊt) which appears in early 19th cent. rimes, *is still retained in military use*, and by many speakers in the U.S. and Canada.



I'd be curious to know whether such a pronunciation is still current in the British military.


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## Dimcl

My Dad was a career soldier in the (Canadian) military which, as you know, was based on and took most of its habits, practices, etc. from the British (we still say "l*ef*tenant" rather than "l*ut*enant").  I grew up with the jargon and never heard anyone say anything but "root march".


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## ewie

mplsray said:


> I'd be curious to know whether such a pronunciation is still current in the British military.


Like Dimcl, I think I would fall off my chair if I heard a military Brit talk about _/raut/ marches_ (or _/loo-tenants/_).


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## Pedro y La Torre

ewie said:


> Like Dimcl, I think I would fall off my chair if I heard a military Brit talk about _/raut/ marches_ (or _/loo-tenants/_).



I don't know about military Brits but I've often heard the "loo-tenant" pronunciation used on the BBC - it's widely used in Ireland as well, including by me. To be honest, I've never understood why anyone would say "leftenant", there's no F in the word. The French, from whom the word derives, do not pronounce it with an F sound either. 

Anyway, as for route, I've only ever heard Americans say "raut", it's always "root" in Ireland - the one notable exception being a computer router, which is often pronounced as "rauter".


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## sasmith

I'd agree with some of the previous posters, in that I've never ever heard a Brit pronounce route as raut with regards to road directions etc.  However, it is quite common (though not universal) to hear rauter for the computer data thingy.

I think it's largely due to endowing IT and the like with it's own distinct 'language', setting electical terms apart from normal speech.

In a similar vein, more and more Brits, nowadays, pronounce data as 'dayta' - again, particularly with respect to IT - whereas when I was younger, when data was primarily about statistics and the like, the pronunciation 'dahta' was perhaps more common than it is today.


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## panjandrum

Those tempted to comment on sasmith's digression should, instead, go to Pronunciation: data where this topic is on-topic.


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## ewie

panjandrum said:


> Those tempted to comment on sasmith's digression should, instead, go to Pronunciation: data where this topic is on-topic.


Oh and *here* for _lieutenant_


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## sound shift

I've never heard a Briton pronounce "route" /raut/.


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## velisarius

My (British) mother used to say /raut/ in the sense of road directions, and I'm sure she was not alone. I blame it on television myself--American series and movies corrupting the old. Tuh!


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## VonnegutGLA

Not wishing to poke a hornet's nest, but when I hear the phrase 'en route' pronounced as 'n rowt' (rhyming with hen doubt), I cry a little on the inside...


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## PaulQ

velisarius said:


> My (British) mother used to say /raut/ in the sense of road directions,


Was she from the Birmingham area? The accent there moves the -oo- sound in that direction.


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## velisarius

No Paul, she was Sussex born and bred. I suppose "route" was not a word she often used, her not being a driver, and she could well have been influenced by the speech of others--brummie bus drivers maybe. She was adamant that she was right, anyway.


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## RM1(SS)

As someone upthread mentioned, I use the rhymes-with-_boot_* pronunciation when referring to highways ("Route 117"), but usually - though not always - use the rhymes-with-_scout_ pronunciation otherwise.

* I can't say "rhymes with _root_" because for me, _root_ (like _roof_ and _hoof_) uses the same vowel as _book_.


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## andefj

< This thread has been added to a previous one. (Cagey, moderator.) >

Hi there, analyzing the pronunciation of the word "route", I've found two ways or pronunciation for this word:
/rut/ /raʊt/. I'd like you to help understand in which case I use the first one and in which case the second one. I don't know if one is pronunced like /rut/ when it is a noun and /raʊt/ when it is a verb, or whether these two ways of pronunciation represent a variation between American and British English.

Thanks


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## owlman5

I have heard both pronunciations here in the U.S., andefj.  As far as I know, it doesn't matter whether the word is used as a verb or a noun.  One speaker uses the same pronunciation for both words.


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## mplsray

According to the dialect map for the pronunciation of _route_ shown here, there are some strong regional differences in America, and even some people who say /rut/ for the noun and /raʊt/ for the verb!


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## owlman5

mplsray said:


> According to the dialect map for the pronunciation of _route_ shown here, there are some strong regional differences in America, and even some people who say /rut/ for the noun and /raʊt/ for the verb!


Thanks for the link, Ray.  That was interesting.  I never would have guessed that some people pronounce"route" differently for the verb than they do for the noun.


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## Sasha Ivanov

<Added to an earlier thread. Nat, Moderator>

Hello, good sirs, I'm trying to emulate General American when I speak. So, how would the majority of Americans say this, I know it is regionally preferential, but I saw a chart once where it shows the percentage for each pronunciation. I want the one with the most percentage.

"After college she went the conventional route and..."

"Oh, this route is so scenic"

"We will go another route" (V.I.Lenin)

I also know they one person can use both for different contexts, I kind of think, it's root everywhere, except for the highways Route 91 (rowt)


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## srk

You must be asking about the pronunciation of "route."

Here's an answer from another site:

*route (as in, "the route from one place to another")*
  a. rhymes with "hoot" (29.99%)
  b. rhymes with "out" (19.72%)
  c. I can pronounce it either way interchangeably (30.42%)
  d. I say it like "hoot" for the noun and like "out" for the verb. (15.97%)
  e. I say it like "out" for the noun and like "hoot" for the verb. (2.50%)
  f. other (1.40%)
  (11137 respondents)


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## srk

I've edited my previous post.  I also looked on line for a picture of General American, but couldn't find one.  I know he's retired.


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## RM1(SS)

I always use /rut/ when referring to a numbered highway, such as "Route 66."  Other than than I use them both, with a mild preference for /raʊt/.


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## Sasha Ivanov

srk said:


> I've edited my previous post.


How would you say my three examples? All root?


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## Sasha Ivanov

I just don't get it, if you were drugged or dying, you would also say them unpredictably, the way the Shrodinger's Cat is. You don't know how you would pronounce it, until after you've uttered it?


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## srk

Sasha Ivanov said:


> I just don't get it, if you were drugged or dying, you would also say them unpredictably, the way the Shrodinger's Cat is. You don't know how you would pronounce it, until after you've uttered it?


It is probably a matter of collocation.  I've always heard "paper route" rhymed with "out."  Route 66 rhymes with "root."

Schroedinger's cat always said it just one way.


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## Sasha Ivanov

Ah, okay, I kind of understand. It's how you've heard them pronounced since childhood, each one is different


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## Truffula

RM1(SS) said:


> I always use /rut/ when referring to a numbered highway, such as "Route 66."  Other than than I use them both, with a mild preference for /raʊt/.





srk said:


> It is probably a matter of collocation.  I've always heard "paper route" rhymed with "out."  Route 66 rhymes with "root."



Same here as RM1 but I have a stronger preference for  /raʊt/ when used to as a noun meaning the particular path one takes to get somewhere.  

In the song or in any named Route I almost always say /rut/ - the exception being if it's "Rural Route" I say  /raʊt/ 

I say /rut/ in the phrase "en route" like in  "We are en /rut/ to your location."

I'd change it even in the same speech.  "What /raʊt/ will you take from school to work?  Will you go on /rut/ 2 or Interstate 12?  Or will you take a surface street /raʊt/?  Will you decide your /raʊt/ ahead of time or wait till you're en /rut/ to figure it out?  Don't let the GPS /raʊt/ you through construction."  Some examples.

I tend to switch only when I hear someone else using the other pronunciation.  So if someone asked me "What /rut/ do you take to work every day?" I might say "I take the same /rut/ to work most days, and only change to an alternate /rut/ when there's a lot of traffic" even though normally I'd use /raʊt/  for both of those.  But the effect of hearing it "wrong" might wear off in the middle and I might say "I take the same /rut/ to work most days, and only change to an alternate /raʊt/ when there's a lot of traffic" instead.


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