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In the past, I used to say "Herbs", then I was corrected and told that the "H" is muted and one should say "Erbs". Watching some video, the instructor keeps saying "Herbs". What is the right pronunciation?

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3 Answers 3

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It's pronounced both ways. NOAD gives this:

herb |(h)ərb|

The parenthetical h indicates that it may be aspirated or omitted.

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  • Somehow people believe statistics, but popularity doesn't necessarily mean it's right
    – Thursagen
    May 15, 2011 at 5:48
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    @Third Idiot: the established pronunciations in both the U.S. and the U.K. (these are different) are prevalent enough that most people would insist that the other pronunciation is incorrect. So no /h/ is correct in the U.S. and with /h/ is correct in England.
    – Peter Shor
    May 15, 2011 at 15:55
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    No /h/ is definitely the way to do it in Jamaica. :)
    – boehj
    May 15, 2011 at 19:57
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    The comedian Eddie Izzard has something to say about this; I believe that's become one of his more iconic lines.
    – J.R.
    May 22, 2012 at 10:14
  • "Language" Sketch from "Dressed to Kill" by Eddie Izzard, the link posted by J.R. above is "dead". youtube.com/watch?v=FXBHY7uco0Y
    – Mari-Lou A
    Oct 28, 2018 at 13:56
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The American pronuncation is usually /ərb/ without the h, while the British pronunciation is usually /hɜː(r)b/ with the h, but maybe without the r. It was formerly pronounced without the h in the U.K; the British author E. Nesbit used "an herb" in her book The Wonderful Garden (1911), probably indicating that she pronounced it without the h.

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    The American pronunciation of herb- in combining forms varies. From Google Ngrams, the American Heritage Dictionary, and my gut feeling, I would say that you should not pronounce the 'h' in herbage and herbal, but that it's usually pronounced in herbarium, herbicide, herbivore, and herbaceous.
    – Peter Shor
    Jun 4, 2011 at 14:37
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    Shor, I would pronounce the h in none of your example words, and generally would be surprised to hear any American English speaker say those words with an h, American dictionaries’ pronunciation guides notwithstanding.
    – nohat ♦
    Jan 31, 2012 at 7:37
  • @nohat: Compare the frequencies of "a herbal tea", "an herbal tea", "a herbicide" and "an herbicide" in this Ngram for American English. Certainly "an herbicide" is not uncommon enough to be called incorrect, but "a herbicide" is more frequent.
    – Peter Shor
    Jan 31, 2012 at 10:29
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    It does for one-syllable words.
    – Peter Shor
    Jan 27, 2013 at 14:12
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    All this time and nobody has suggested "oibz". I'm proud of you guys.
    – Mr Lister
    Jan 23, 2014 at 17:50
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What is the right pronunciation?

That depends on which English, you speak. It is one of the many differences American English has from British forms of English. The h is not pronounced by Americans. It is pronounced by English (and other British) people. This page http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/herb?q=herb , demonstrates it.

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