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Do you pronounce the word like...

  • Ap-PLIC-a-ble

Or:

  • APP-lic-a-ble

And if so, is there a difference between the two?

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3 Answers 3

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The NOAD reports /ˈæpləkəbəl/ as the pronunciation of the word in American English, and /əˈplɪkəb(ə)l/, /ˈaplɪkəb(ə)l/ as the British pronunciation.

In /əˈplɪkəb(ə)l/, the accent is on the second "syllable" (Ap-PLIC-a-ble); in /ˈæpləkəbəl/ and /ˈaplɪkəb(ə)l/, the accent is on the first "syllable" (APP-lic-a-ble).

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My Webster's gives them both as variant pronunciations, with the stressed first syllable being preferred. Both mean the same thing, and are identical apart from the pronunciation.

You say tomato, I say tomahto ...

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It is French.

The correct pronunciation is as it is written: AHplihKAHbleh

(the 'ah' as in hot)

However, due to anglicization, no one in USA cares about that pronunciation. So I've told you the correct pronunciation, but the common English pronunciation would have the emphasis on the first syllable. Don't put emphasis on the second syllable, ever.

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    The question is how to pronounce it in English, not French.
    – Matt E. Эллен
    Commented Jan 6, 2012 at 11:25
  • This might be a troll... if not then it's amazing how some people don't realize that when words are borrowed into a new language they are no longer "correctly" pronounced the way they were pronounced in the old language.
    – iconoclast
    Commented May 29 at 19:04

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