Pronunciation of "applicable"

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).

50.6k 10 10 gold badges 167 167 silver badges 209 209 bronze badges answered Feb 5, 2011 at 8:48 59.4k 72 72 gold badges 215 215 silver badges 328 328 bronze badges

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 .

answered Feb 5, 2011 at 3:09 152k 41 41 gold badges 364 364 silver badges 608 608 bronze badges

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.

2,259 6 6 gold badges 29 29 silver badges 39 39 bronze badges answered Dec 22, 2011 at 4:12 Daphnes Hyrule Daphnes Hyrule 1 1 1 bronze badge The question is how to pronounce it in English, not French. 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.

Commented May 29 at 19:04

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