Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries

by Kory Stamper

The linguistic process by which “nuclear” became \ˈnü-kyə-lər\ is called “metathesis,” where two phonemes within a word switch positions.*10 This is the process that gave us the standard pronunciations of “iron” (“EYE-urn” instead of “EYE-run”) and “comfortable” (“KUMF-ter-bul” instead of “KUM-fert-uh-bul”) and other nonstandard pronunciations like “PURR-tee” for “pretty.” Some lexicographers and linguists posit that “nuclear” underwent metathesis because there are not any other common English words that end in \-klē-ǝr\ (just “cochlear”),*11 but there are a good number of words like “molecular” and “vascular” that end in \-kyǝ-lǝr\, and the gravitational pull of these words and this more common speech pattern dragged “nuclear” into \-kyǝ-lǝr\ orbit. But the “how” is not as interesting to people as the “why,” and we don’t have a compelling “why.” Why do people who have gone through some of the most rigorous graduate programs in the world use a pronunciation that’s just not right?