# Pronunciation: apricot



## natkretep

I normally say /'eɪprɪkɒt/, but have just discovered that, according to Merriam-Websters, Americans say something similar to that, but in fact prefer /'æprəkɑːt/. For those who don't read IPA, the difference is the use of the long or the short vowel for the initial <a>.

Can I check how AE speakers really say the word?


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## Cagey

I say the long <a> (as in day).  I grew up in rural California.  I also hear people say it with an "ah" sound.  It isn't uncommon, but I think of it as marking a difference, an indication that the person grew up elsewhere.

Edit: Merriam-Webster has audio clips of both pronunciations, which seem fairly accurate, to my ear.


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## cuchuflete

Thanks for translating IPA to English!*   I am used to hearing two varieties. The more common one in my region has the initial vowel sounding like the a in bad.  The other pronunciation has that vowel sounding like the a in ape.


*For all the good things IPA may do, there are quite a few ways AE speakers say bad.
The consistency between apricot's first a and that of _bad_ or of _that_ holds up, but this is a range of sounds, rather than a single sound.


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## natkretep

Ah, so neither would sound strange to an American ear. I think the short sound as in _bad _would sound unusual to a BE speaker.


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## cuchuflete

natkretep said:


> Ah, so neither would sound strange to an American ear. I think the short sound as in _bad _would sound unusual to a BE speaker.



Ahhh, that all depends on which American ear.  Some members of the _bad/that/cat/lad _crew might be disconcerted by the _ape/day/weigh/gay/gape_ apricotters, while the latter might be upset by the former.  I'm used to hearing both, so I don't give it much notice.


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## natkretep

cuchuflete said:


> Ahhh, that all depends on which American ear.  Some members of the _bad/that/cat/lad _crew might be disconcerted by the _ape/day/weigh/gay/gape_ apricotters, while the latter might be upset by the former.  I'm used to hearing both, so I don't give it much notice.



Thanks, cuchu. Is this difference based on region, social status, age or something else - or is it completely random, do you know?


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## cuchuflete

Well, Nat, according to my many milliseconds of serious thought about this, it seems fairly random for education, age, social status.  Going from east to west, the pattern "goes ape", or shifts from the _bad_ initial vowel to the so-called "long" sound.  I don't remember noticing the pronunciation in the states south of Maryland, so I guess we will have to wait for more replies.


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## Loob

Nat, just a thought - at least some Scots say _apricot_ with a short "a", so AmE variations in usage may conceivably have something to do with patterns of immigration....


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## natkretep

Thanks, cuchu and Loob. I lived in Edinburgh for 4 years, and can't recall the short 'a'. Do you know which Scots say this? Maybe also the Irish? And so across the Atlantic?


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## cuchuflete

Interesting speculations.  I think the word came into English from the French.  As far as I know, both the French and Spanish forms have an initial sound close to "ah".  The confusion arises with the migration from Loobylandia (Great Britain) to my side of the puddle.  I've been informed, vigorously, by a BE speaker that , "Nobody says "ah". That was amended to, "Well, almost nobody...I have a friend who...".


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## KenInPDX

I've heard both pronunciations in the US.  I use the short a as in bad/that/mad.  I don't have a clear sense of what accounts for the difference, although I suspect it could be somewhat rural vs. urban.  I've lived in urban areas an many parts of the US, and the short a is much more common in my experience.


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## pickarooney

Apologies if this is off-topic, but does anyone pronounce a short 'a' at the beginning of 'acorn'?


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## JamesM

Not that I've ever heard, pickarooney.

Back to "apricot", I've heard both pronunciations and I actually waver between the two.  I usually use the short "a" for "apricot jam" but I know that I often use the long "a" for "apricots" as a fruit.  

My impression is that the short "a" is more prominent on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. but that it's generally mixed in any given group of people.


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## JulianStuart

I heard only the long a (ape-rick-ott) in England but both versions in the US, although my personal experience (in California and New York state) still has the ape version as most common.

Barely on topic, and only lightly suggested as a possible reason for the "ape" form : As for the origin, because it begins with a, I wondered whimsically if it was like the word orange - a migrating letter (a norange became an orange, or a naranja became an aranja, or similar) and it was indeed true - although the words never existed as such, the roots reveal a pricot became apricot - the original a being the stressed indefinite article and not the schwa).


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## Loob

natkretep said:


> Thanks, cuchu and Loob. I lived in Edinburgh for 4 years, and can't recall the short 'a'. Do you know which Scots say this? Maybe also the Irish? And so across the Atlantic?


Well, I was thinking particularly of my husband, a Fifer - so born not far from Edinburgh.

_Apricot_'s not a word you hear every day, of course


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## Hitchhiker

Loob said:


> Nat, just a thought - at least some Scots say _apricot_ with a short "a", so AmE variations in usage may conceivably have something to do with patterns of immigration....



There is quite a bit of Irish pronunciation in America, such as the word "aunt".


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## Pedro y La Torre

No-one in Ireland would ever say "ah-pricot", indeed I never even knew another pronunciation existed before reading this thread.


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## Forero

We say _ape_-ricot where I live, but I have also heard _ap-p_ricot. I have never heard _ah_-pricot.


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## Infininja

Pedro y La Torre said:


> No-one in Ireland would ever say "ah-pricot", indeed I never even knew another pronunciation existed before reading this thread.



_Ah-pricot_ is different from the long (as in _ape_) and short (as in _map_) 'a' sounds suggested in this thread.

I rarely hear the word, but just reading it I say the short 'a' (_map_) sound. I'm from Ohio. I have heard of the long (_ape_) pronunciation too.


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## tannen2004

Infininja said:


> I rarely hear the word, but just reading it I say the short 'a' sound. I'm from Ohio.



I guess that would rule out any major regional differences.  I'm from Ohio as well and say it with a long 'a'.


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## GreenWhiteBlue

When I picked the fruit off of the *ap*ricot trees in my orchard last month, the first syllable of the word I used to name those items was identical to the first syllable of the name of the trees next to the apricots: *ap*ples.


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## JamesM

The lyric that keeps running over and over in my head is from the Cowardly Lion's song in MGM's "The Wizard of Oz":

What makes the Hottentot so hot?
What puts the ape in apricot?
What do they got that I ain't got?
Courage!


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## Pedro y La Torre

Infininja said:


> _Ah-pricot_ is different from the long (as in _ape_) and short (as in _map_) 'a' sounds suggested in this thread.
> 
> I rarely hear the word, but just reading it I say the short 'a' (_map_) sound. I'm from Ohio. I have heard of the long (_ape_) pronunciation too.



OK, apologies - I was (mistakenly) referring to the short a pronunciation. It seems to be a U.S.-only thing, I've never encountered it on this side of the Atlantic.


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## Loob

Pedro y La Torre said:


> It seems to be a U.S.-only thing


It's not US-only - see my posts 8 & 15


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## Pedro y La Torre

Sorry for overlooking that Loob! Is it really used in Scotland too? Interesting.
All I can say is that in Ireland I've never heard it, and would be rather surprised if I did.


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## Loob

natkretep said:


> Thanks, cuchu and Loob. I lived in Edinburgh for 4 years, and can't recall the short 'a'. Do you know which Scots say this? Maybe also the Irish? And so across the Atlantic?


Walking the dogs tonight, I met a lady from Glasgow.

So I asked her (as you do) how to pronounce _apricot._ And answer came there _apricot-with-a-short-a-like-the-vowel-sound-in-hat._

Not just my Fifer husband, then.  People in the west of Scotland also have the short-vowel pronunciation.

_Spooky..._

_Or interesting..._



_Or something._


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## natkretep

Loob said:


> So I asked her (as you do) how to pronounce _apricot._ ]



Certainly not as _I_ do!  But what dedication to the forum, Mrs Loob. Thanks. Was the Glaswegian lady surprised to hear that those south of the border pronounce it differently?


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## Loob

natkretep said:


> Certainly not as _I_ do!  But what dedication to the forum, Mrs Loob. Thanks. Was the Glaswegian lady surprised to hear that those south of the border pronounce it differently?


No. But then the way I phrased the question was "I'm having a debate with someone about whether Scottish people say_ ap-ricot_ or _ape-ricot"._  So there wasn't really scope for her to be surprised at alternative pronunciations.

Dedication to the forums? _Yesssss!_ I plan to continue quizzing every Scot I meet for some time to come...

_Boring - moi?_


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## natkretep

Loob said:


> Dedication to the forums? _Yesssss!_ I plan to continue quizzing every Scot I meet for some time to come...
> [/SIZE]



<Applause!> <Imaginary hat raised!>

Please continue to report on your research!


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## susanna76

I've wondered about this for a while now. Every time I read the word "apricot" I find I can't decide whether to pronounce it [ap-ri-kot] or [ey-pri-kot]. The dictionaries give both. I wonder whether there's a BrE/AmE difference as well. So, how do you pronounce apricot?

Thanks!


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## JamesM

I have heard American English speakers say both "ap-ri-kot" and "ey-pri-kot". Personally, I waver between the two.  I say "ap-ri-kot" for preserves (jam) pretty consistently but I never know which I'll use when referring to the fruit itself.

The line that always comes to mind when I think of "apricot" is the Cowardly Lion's song, "Courage", from the movie "The Wizard of Oz":

What makes the Hottentot so hot?
Who put the ape in apricot?
What have they got that I ain't got?
Courage!


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## sound shift

I always say "ey-pri-kot."


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## kitenok

I think I always say ap-ri-kot, both as a noun and an attributive (ap-ri-kot jam, etc.).


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## entangledbank

I have only ever heard it with /ei/. Perhaps I've never heard a North American say the word.


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## catlady60

In the eastern US, especially the Northeast, apricot is pronounced "ap-ri-kot".  "Ay-pri-kot" is the common pronunciation in the rest of the US.


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## ewie

I've heard Americans say *ap*-ri-kot ... and always fallen off my chair.


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## WyomingSue

All Americans I know:  AP-ri-kot.  Ey-pri-kot is for Queen Titania.


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## JamesM

The Cowardly Lion said ey-pri-cot in a _very_ American accent. 

The fact is, I think both pronunciations are heard in the U.S. somewhere or other.


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## susanna76

Thanks everyone!

So I understand it's definitely [ey-pri-kot] in the UK, and both ey- and ap-ri-kot in the US, with ap-ri-kot more prevalent on the East Coast.

I can't imagine how laypeople improved their knowledge of a language when there were only dictionaries and no forums! ;-D

Thanks again!


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## Loob

There's actually a previous thread here, susanna: Pronunciation: apricot {link removed}. From which you will see that there are parts of the UK where the vowel sound in _apricot_ is that of "cap".....

_<< Thank you. The threads have been merged. >>_


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## Forero

JamesM said:


> I have heard American English speakers say both "ap-ri-kot" and "ey-pri-kot". Personally, I waver between the two.  I say "ap-ri-kot" for preserves (jam) pretty consistently but I never know which I'll use when referring to the fruit itself.
> 
> The line that always comes to mind when I think of "apricot" is the Cowardly Lion's song, "Courage", from the movie "The Wizard of Oz":
> 
> What makes the Hottentot so hot?
> Who put the ape in apricot?
> What have they got that I ain't got?
> Courage!


I don't know what the script says, but the Lion in the movie says "What puts the ape in apricot?", with a very strong _p_ at the beginning of _puts_.


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## natkretep

Forero said:


> I don't know what the script says, but the Lion in the movie says "What puts the ape in apricot?", with a very strong _p_ at the beginning of _puts_.


 
Yes, 'who' does not quite make sense. This site certainly says 'what'.


> *Cowardly Lion.* Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the 'ape' in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?
> *All:* Courage!




The point then is: what can be more American than _The Wizard of Oz_?  So contrary to what WyomingSue says, the *ape* pronunciation must be pretty established in AE.


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## JamesM

(Sorry for the confusion on "who" vs. "what".  I put "what" at first, then checked a site that said it was "who".  Oh well.)

Many of the people I grew up with (in a small town in California) would have thought "ap-ri-kot" was a little pretentious.  I grew up with one side of the family coming from England and the other side from West Virginia, so my pronunciation was a jumble.  I remember being teased about "ap-ri-kot", though.  The common pronunciation in my hometown was "ape-ri-kot". 

I'll say one more time -- I think there is enough of a distribution of both pronunciations in the U.S. that either would be considered acceptable by most Americans.


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## preppie

I  am in the Mid-atlantic region of the US. The majority of the time I hear (and I do say) Ap ricot, to rhyme with apple and apt.


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## WyomingSue

So I think we're ready to accept ape- and ap-.  Regarding the Wizard of Oz, let's not forget that scripts are written ahead of time--Bert Lahr didn't just burst into song on his own.  I have discovered that the main scriptwriter was Noel Langley, born in South Africa.  There are many other forum threads that rule out songs as sources of correct English.  Perhaps we can add a new verse to the old tomayto-tomahto song.


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## tundraflower

Fascinated by this discussion. I grew up in Washington state (both sides of the Cascades — there is a difference sometimes) and learned ay-pri-cot first but started hearing a-pri-cot more as I got older. I say both interchangeably now. I wonder how it’s pronounced in British Canada (ie. Victoria, B.C.)


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## kentix

I agree. Both pronunciations are widely distributed. Neither is outright weird anywhere. Also remember that Americans routinely relocate to places hundreds or thousands of miles away for work or personal reasons. There are no self-contained, uniform regions. Every region is a mix of natives and others who have moved there from many different places, and that's especially true in urban and suburban areas.


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## Glasguensis

For what it's worth, I confirm @Loob's earlier research : I use a short a, and that's what I heard growing up (in the West of Scotland).


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## Wordy McWordface

Anyone remember Carly Simon's "You're So Vain"_?  _That song made me aware of the _app-ricot _pronunciation, way back in 1971:

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot


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## gdoughdoc28

Wordy McWordface said:


> Anyone remember Carly Simon's "You're So Vain"_?  _That song made me aware of the _app-ricot _pronunciation, way back in 1971:
> 
> You walked into the party
> Like you were walking onto a yacht
> Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
> Your scarf it was apricot


Yeah, I grew up hearing ape and then she makes this song and when I go to UCLA, it was like proper to use ap as in app, which is in itself a nearer word as in computer applications. My brother from USC would correct my English, “It’s wash, not worsh!”

Not from what mom taught me and he parents were from Oklahoma and Los Angeles.

Oxford gives both pronunciations:

/ˈaprəˌkät,ˈāprəˌkät/

noun: apricot; plural noun: apricots; noun: apricot tree; plural noun: apricot trees


a juicy, soft fruit, resembling a small peach, of an orange-yellow color."apricot jam"
an orange-yellow color like the skin of a ripe apricot.
the tree bearing apricots.
Origin

mid 16th century: from Portuguese albricoque or Spanish albaricoque, from Spanish Arabic al ‘the’ + barqūq (via late Greek from Latin praecoquum, variant of praecox ‘early-ripe’); influenced by Latin apricus ‘ripe’ and French abricot


Notice the origin albaricoque and abricot have two different a sounds, “owl-bar-ee-co-kay” and “ah-bree-cote”.

How we got to ap and ape from owl and ah, to ri from ree and to cot from cote, well, that’s what started this.


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## Geo.

Wordy McWordface said:


> Anyone remember Carly Simon's "You're So Vain"_?  _That song made me aware of the _app-ricot _pronunciation, way back in 1971:
> 
> You walked into the party
> Like you were walking onto a yacht
> Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
> Your scarf it was apricot


Being a speaker of British English myself (the south-east coast), the _very_ first time I heard that song (circa fifty years ago now) I did not even know what she was saying. When I finally tumbled to it, I simply thought: _‘That must be the way Americans say it’._

However, upon reading:


Loob said:


> Nat, just a thought - at least some Scots say _apricot_ with a short "a", so AmE variations in usage may conceivably have something to do with patterns of immigration....


Clearly, I was wrong, as at least some, in areas of the UK, say it that way and all. _(Cheers, Loob; I never knew that till just now!) _

Then further reading:


gdoughdoc28 said:


> Yeah, I grew up hearing ape and then she makes this song and when I go to UCLA, it was like proper to use ap as in app, which is in itself a nearer word as in computer applications.


So, perhaps its use is like that of ‘either’ and ‘neither’ where no-one can ascribe a ‘long-i’ versus a ‘long-e’ to one side of the pond or the other, rather, it’s regional throughout the English-speaking world, even if a particular pronunciation may seem more common to one group of speakers than another.

Accordingly, in regard to the OP’s initial question:


natkretep said:


> Can I check how AE speakers really say the word?



With ‘apricot’ it would seem to be _there is no single hard-and-fast rule,_ such as one might _–I said ‘might’–_ find with some words.

Or as I once heard someone from the American South put it so well in regard to a similar dilemma: ‘“Sweet potatoes” are not “yams” –they are two entirely different things– _but if your momma referred to “sweet potatoes” as “yams”, then you will too!’_


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## dojibear

gdoughdoc28 said:


> My brother from USC would correct my English, “It’s wash, not worsh!”
> 
> Not from what mom taught me and the parents were from Oklahoma and Los Angeles.


Ohmigosh! I grew up saying "worsh" too! And "Worshington". I had to learn to change it, in college (Boston area). I didn't know any other dialects said "worsh".

In "apricot", my dialect uses _æ-_, but I've heard both versions. 

The WR dictionary lists both _(/ˈæprɪˌkɑt, ˈeɪprɪ-/_) as correct in AE, but only "_eɪ" _as correct in BE.


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## dojibear

natkretep said:


> The point then is: what can be more American than _The Wizard of Oz_?


The cowardly lion never says this in normal speech (a prose sentence). This is only in a poem about courage, in this line:


JamesM said:


> What puts the "ape" in "apricot"?


This is a pun. The pun only works if the starting sounds are the same in "ape" (/*eɪp*/) and "apricot" (/ˈ*eɪp*rɪˌkɒt/).
Note that this line (ending in "apric*ot*") rhymes with the following line "What have they got that I ain't g*ot*?"
The lyric writer needed a line ending in /ɒt/.

This does indicate that the /eɪp-/ pronunciation was acceptable in AE. It doesn't imply that it was the "most commonly used" pronunciation or the "only" pronunciation.

Courage lyrics by Harold Arlen from The Wizard Of Oz soundtrack.


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## RM1(SS)

dojibear said:


> Ohmigosh! I grew up saying "worsh" too! And "Worshington". I had to learn to change it, in college (Boston area). I didn't know any other dialects said "worsh".


I used to have friends who lived near Worshington, Iowa.


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