How To Pronounce Omicron, The Covid Variant Named After The 15th Letter Of Greek Alphabet

There are many ways of pronouncing "Omicron", that have been widely accepted in English, and there is no single, agreed-on English pronunciation for Omicron, according to experts.

Experts say there is no single, agreed-on English pronunciation for Omicron| Representational image (Source: Getty)

New Delhi: The newly detected coronavirus variant called Omicron, has been named after the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. Several things about Omicron are not known yet, including its exact pronunciation.

Experts say there is no single, agreed-on English pronunciation for Omicron, according to a New York Times article.

"OH-muh-kraan" is one way of pronouncing Omicron, according to Merriam Webster. The first syllable must be stressed while being pronounced.

Different Accepted Ways Of Pronouncing Omicron

There are many ways of pronouncing "Omicron", that have been widely accepted in English. 

Merriam Webster says that Omicron is often pronounced as "AH-muh-kraan" in the United States. This week, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson pronounced Omicron as "OH-mee-kraan", which is one of the less commonly used ways. Few people also pronounce Omicron as "OH-my-kraan", the article said.

Apoorva Mandavilli of New York Times said on the news agency's podcast, "The Daily", that she pronounced the variant's name as "AH-muh-kraan."

"I don't think it really matters that much, honestly," the article quoted her.

According to Dr Andreas Willi, a comparative linguistics professor at Oxford University, the New Oxford English Dictionary gives a pronunciation that is different from those in Merriam-Webster. He said the pronunciation was like an English phrase 'o-MIKE-Ron', the article stated.

Dr. Willi said the word was pronounced with the second syllable sounding like an English "me", in classical Greek, where "o mikron" means "small o."

Since the Greek word is transliterated for pronunciation into English, the "AH-muh-kraan" pronunciation "makes perfect sense," according to Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam Webster. 

He added that there "isn't a wrong answer."

Dr. Willi said the question of British versus American pronunciation of the first syllable is not really specific to the word Omicron, the article stated. 

Since the word was adopted as a loanword and was used by English speakers in different places at different times, the divergence in pronunciation occurred, he added.

Referring to the pronunciation of 'Paris' in English and in French, he said the word is pronounced differently in the two languages, but it is hardly wrong in a strict sense.