Pronunciation of "comparable"

Question

I was talking to my boyfriend about this but I wanted to get some more opinions.

"Comparable" can be pronounced as:

1. COMP-er-uh-bul (which is how I usually pronounce it)
2. Com-PAIR-ah-bul (which usually makes me blink and tilt my head)

Is there a specific case where one pronunciation is used over another? I tend to think that version 1 deals more with similarity than version 2. Version 2, to me, feels like it's more about the fact that two elements can be compared.

Also: can both words/pronunciations be used interchangeably (granted that my guesses toward the meanings are correct)?

Answer 1

The two pronunciations in question are (in IPA):

1. /ˑkɑmp(ə)rəbəl/ (KOM-pruh-buhl)/(KOM-puh-ruh-buhl)
2. /kəmˑp(æ/ɛ)rəbəl/ (kuhm-PARE-uh-buhl) [approximately]

Pronunciations for this word are given in dictionaries in four ways, as far as I can tell:

• (a) both are given in the order #1, #2, with no comment
  Webster’s New World
• (b) both are given in the order #1, #2, but the second is noted as “less common” with a notation like “also”, or “or, sometimes”,
  Merriam-Webster, Random House,
• (c) both are given in the order #1, #2, but the second is noted as U.S.-only
  Cambridge Advanced Learner’s, Wiktionary
• (d) only #1 is given
  American Heritage, Collins, Macmillan, New Oxford American

No dictionary I looked in lists pronunciation #2 first. Nor does any support different meanings for different pronunciations. Generally speaking, #1 is the traditional and unimpeachably correct pronunciation. #2 is commonly used, but if you use it, you should not be surprised if you are criticized or corrected.

Addendum: the user-provided pronunciation site Forvo has seven pronunciations for comparable. The two pronunciations which are pronounced like #2 are rated –3. The rest, which are pronounced like #1, are rated 0, 1, or 2.

Answer 2

The New Oxford American Dictionary reports that the correct pronunciation in standard English is with the stress on the first syllable rather than the second.

Answer 3

What you're discussing is word stress, whether the word stressed is as

comp-ra-ble

or

com-pair-a-ble

This is just another potayto-potahto question.

Answer 4

Yes, as the OP suggests, I think #2 could be used when one intends to mean 'amenable to comparison' in a scientific or mathematical context (as in the comment from @Gregor y related to programming). Consequently, no, the two pronunciations cannot be used interchangeably.

I am assuming that the OP spelled out #2 as 'Com-PAIR-ah-bul' intending it to rhyme with 'unbearable', i.e. /kəmˑpɛəɹəbəl/ in IPA. If so, this would be different from any of the pronunciations in @nohat's attempt to translate the question into the two sets of pronunciations found in dictionaries: a) /ˑkɑmprəbəl/, /ˑkɑmpərəbəl/; b) /kəmˑpærəbəl/, /kəmˑpɛrəbəl/.

If the OP did indeed intend #2 to be pronounced as if saying the word 'compare' then adding '-able' as an afterthought, I think it would be an invented pronunciation, but one that would be widely understood without necessarily being recorded in dictionaries (aside: is it called a neologism, when it's a new pronunciation but not a new spelling?).

Dictionaries do give the meaning 'capable of or suitable for comparison', for instance, Merriam Webster gives that meaning with the following example: 'The situations are not at all comparable.'

However, I think there is room for the OP's #2 pronunciation when spoken in scientific contexts, e.g., "The experiment must use standard methodology so that output data is comparable /kəmˑpɛəɹəbəl/". Without this invented pronunciation (rhyming with unbearable) if the speaker used any of the four dictionary pronunciations in @nohat's answer, it would beg the question 'Comparable with what, specifically?'

Even if the speaker stated the object of the comparison, e.g., "...so that output data is comparable with other studies," the audience would think the speaker wanted the results to be similar to other studies, not that they wanted it to just be possible to compare the results with other studies (even if they turned out to be different). So there is a role for the OP's new #2 pronunciation.

To disambiguate without any pronunciation clues (i.e. in writing) it would be advisable to either write 'amenable to comparison' in full, or sometimes context might be sufficient. For instance:

• If there is no object of the comparison, it implies meaning #2.
• If the comparison is set in the future, it tends to imply meaning #2. For instance, "The experiment must use standard methodology so that output data is comparable with future studies". However, setting the comparison in the future could still be ambiguous, for instance, "We hope our output data will be comparable with future studies."

Answer 5

I pronounce it as com-pa-ra-ble. It is more consistent with other similar adjectives ending in -able, in that its emphasis is the syllable before the -able.

Answer 6

There are cases to be made for the changing of the root sounds in words when they are changed from one part of speech to another. In this case, a verb to an adjective: v. comp-PARE to adj. COM-parable. Examples of other changes are: COMpliment to compliMENtary, comBINE to combiNAtion, comPETE to COMpetence.

Answer 7

Com-pair-able makes way more sense since you are com-pair-ing (comparing) things. Comp-rable disregards the first letter "a" in the word and to me makes it sound like it has to do with comping something (offering something complimentary). I am a hotel manager and for certain guest satisfaction issues we will comp the room (meaning we will offer their room complimentary and waive the rental fee) so when an employee would ask me if they are able to comp the room for a guest that experiences an issue, I would ask them if they believe it to be a comprable situation or if there is some other compensation that would be more suitable... well, since it has now become more common for people to say comparable as comprable I no longer use that word to explain my point in order to avoid confusion.

Answer 8

Two well known major supermarkets are now using this word in their advertising. One has been using it for sometime, the other has begun to do so more recently. Each pronounces it as com parable (not com pairable). It grates on me every time I hear it, because I was taught from an early age that the correct pronunciation of this word is 'comprabul' and this appears to be verified in every dictionary I've checked.