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A recent question has reminded me of something I've been wondering about for a while: what is the correct way to pronounce tuple?

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What is a non-mathematical example of this? – GEdgar Jun 27 '11 at 15:19

5 Answers

up vote 19 down vote accepted

There are two possible pronunciations, one to rhyme with two pull (/tupəl/) and the other with supple (/tʌpəl/).

Take your pick. There will always be someone to agree with you... violently :)

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How to rhyme tuple with two? – Tim N Feb 17 '11 at 10:27
@Tim, to or too if you prefer :) – Benjol Feb 17 '11 at 10:37
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@Tim, look now... – Benjol Feb 17 '11 at 11:18
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You say a Tuple and I say a Tuple ;) – mplungjan Feb 17 '11 at 14:45
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Just being picky here, but "two pull" and "tuple" are not perfect rhymes, since "pull" is [pʊl] and the "ple" in "tuple" is [pəl]. – Kosmonaut Apr 3 '11 at 15:07
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up vote 11 down vote

It should be pronounced to rhyme with quintuple, sextuple, octuple etc, since these are its origins.

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This is how I've heard it pronounced in the USA (except that I would leave "quadruple" off the list since the "u" there is long). This one may be subject to some regional differences, given @Ham and Bacon's answer. – JeffSahol Jun 27 '11 at 12:20
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@JeffSahol: You're right that there are regional differences: for example the "u" is long in "quintuple", "sextuple" is long in British English. Saying it's "like quintuple" is about right, because although in my experience there's quite a lot of variation in how people say that word, exactly the same variation occurs with "tuple" :-) – psmears Jun 27 '11 at 12:35
The pronunciation analogy with 'quintuple' etc. won't necessarily work because of of how stress modifies vowels. There could also be a competing analogy with 'double'. – Mitch Jun 27 '11 at 13:33
up vote 8 down vote

I don't use either of the pronunciations Benjol mentioned. I say /tjupl/, the first syllable rhyming with "stew".

I suspect that Benjol has a dialect in which "dew" and "do" are homonyms, but they aren't for me or most British speakers.

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Really? I've never heard anyone in England say "tewple" - it's always "toople". – Marcin Jun 27 '11 at 19:16
(Or, in one instance, "tupple"). – Marcin Jun 27 '11 at 19:23
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You may never have heard it. But I assure you that on the rare occasions when I say the word I pronounce it /tjupl/, like "tulip" and "tutor". Why the downvote? – Colin Fine Jun 28 '11 at 12:03
"Most British speakers" certainly does not accord with my observation. – Marcin Jun 28 '11 at 17:09
@Marcin My guess is that you have observed British programmers using the American pronunciation, but this is the traditional British one. – z7sg Ѫ Jun 30 '11 at 0:29
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up vote 3 down vote

I am a British speaker.

I pronounce Dew and Do differently (dew - stew - chew / do - too - who).

But tuple/quintuple/quintuplets I pronounce with 'up', not 'oop' (tuple - supple).

So do any other British speakers I know.

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3  
The "dew"/"do" distinction you are referring to is because UK English allows the /j/ onglide to occur after coronal consonants, /t,d,s,z/ and so on. Although both AmE and BrE can distinguish "fool" /ful/ and "fuel" /fjul/, AmE treats both "dew" /dju/ and "do" /du/ as /du/. – Kosmonaut Apr 3 '11 at 15:59
Yes, @kosmonaut, that is quite right. I used the other words to try to provide 'sounds like' examples for my own pronunciation in the absence of IPA symbols. (I've seen them used on here but I don't know how people do it) – Karl Apr 3 '11 at 16:12
@Karl: IPA symbols are easy. Just open up a page that already has them and use murine snarf-N-barf to insert whatever you need. – tchrist Apr 3 '11 at 17:45
Oh, just like that? Excellent, thanks. ( @tchrist ) – Karl Apr 3 '11 at 18:12
Really? Every programmer I have met in England says "toople". – Marcin Jun 27 '11 at 19:17
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up vote 2 down vote

From dictionary.com:

tjʊp ə l, ˈtʌp ə l)

So, the actual pronunciation is actually either "tew-pel" or "tu-" as in "but".

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Isn't /ˈtʌpəl/ more like "tupple" than "tew-pel" or "too-pel"? – psmears Jun 27 '11 at 12:33
My pronounciation guide puts it as "ʌ" as in "but"!! I always said "but" as in "boot"... Jks. Don't know what happened when I posted that answer. – Thursagen Jun 28 '11 at 11:48
/tjʊp ə l/ is yet another pronunciation, that nobody else has mentioned. I say /tjup ə l/ with a tense /u/ not a lax /ʊ/ – Colin Fine Feb 18 at 17:15

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