19 replies to this topic

[bacchus26]

how the heck did someone on here get the idea that it's pronounced "new-tropic"? every source I've read says that the pronunciation is "no-oh-tropic" with the first syllables having a hard 'O' sounds as in "go" and the last o being soft as in "ox". or sometimes all of the 'O's are hard but more or less only when "nootropic" is being used as an adjective or adverb. yeesh, maybe someone needs to up their dose of oxiracetam [lol]

[jaydfox]

I pronounce all the o's as long o's, even the 'o' in the "tropic". I sometimes pronounce the second 'o' a little softer, like "Noah-trope-ic". Sometimes I pronounce it like "Nuo-trope-ic". I don't really have a set way of pronouncing it, because they all seem a bit funny to me.

[jaydfox]

But I don't pronounce noots as "No-oats". I pronounce it like "Newts". Which is probably why I sometimes say "New-oh-trope-ics".

[Kalepha]

Agreed, Jay. They are a bit weird sounding. Intuitively, it should in fact be pronounced noo-TRAH-pik (where "noo" rhymes with "moo"). I haven't seen any sources though that pronounces it by giving "noo-" two syllables. According to Dictionary.com, for instance, it's pronounced either noh-TROH-pik or, secondarily, noh-TRAH-pik.

http://dictionary.re...rch?q=nootropic

[Kalepha]

Hmm, maybe I should retract a little.

http://www.coursewar...n/nootropic.htm

Here you can almost hear "noo-" as two syllables and with the stress. Anyway...

[bacchus26]

I pronounce it like "Newts".

I think it's okay to make an exception for "noots" as well since it's more elite sounding [tung]

and if you're on the internet you can spell it with 0's for added leetness as "n00t". then I can be all like "d00d im 31337 now that i gotz my n00ts cause i can hax0r better" [thumb]

[DJS]

I had always just taken the convenient approach of pronouncing it *newtropics*, but a while back I heard Ken Sills pronounces it as new-oh-tropes.

I think its just easier saying it newtropics or noots, so that's what I'm sticking with.

[mitkat]

Hmm, maybe I should retract a little.

http://www.coursewar...n/nootropic.htm

Here you can almost hear "noo-" as two syllables and with the stress. Anyway...

Nate, I like your first statement totally of noh-TROH-pik. We shouldn't believe everything we read/hear, right? I know many hairs could be split, but I have never even dreamt of pronouncing it like the voice on the coursewareobjects.com link. That just sounds negative

gnu-tropik [thumb]

[FunkOdyssey]

I'm going to keep calling it new-tropic. Most people seem to and I am comfortable doing it the wrong way along with the rest of the majority.

[prodigy2020]

I'm pretty fond of new-tropic as well (as I've previously mentioned). I'm glad many of you agree.

How the heck did I and others get the idea for the pronunciation? It's pretty intuitive... moo, noose, noon, noodle, etc. "no-oh-tropic" is such an awkward pronunciation...

This is of particular interest to me by the way, as I'll hopefully have nooclear.com up and running in the near future [thumb]

[syr_]

. "no-oh-tropic" is such an awkward pronunciation...

It is for native english speakers

[ajnast4r]

new-oh-trope-ik

[Kalepha]

Nate, I like your first statement totally of noh-TROH-pik. We shouldn't believe everything we read/hear, right? I know many hairs could be split, but I have never even dreamt of pronouncing it like the voice on the coursewareobjects.com link. That just sounds negative

gnu-tropik [thumb]

Thanks a lot, mitkat. I agree. Inevitably, perhaps, it'll have quite a few variations merely because the word probably comes up much more in writing than in speaking.

new-oh-trope-ik

Stated without reasons, so it must be! :þ

[dogbarf]

There would be an etymological basis for "new-tropic," being that the greek word νους (noos, or nous) is likewise pronouced with an "ou" as in "soup."

Edited by dogbarf, 06 March 2006 - 07:15 AM.

[DJS]

Thank you for your words of wisdom...dogbarf. [lol]

[johnmk]

The link earlier in the thread pronounces it as "no-oh-trahh-pik" which is how I've been pronouncing it all along, and I tend to have pretty good intuition about these things.

[NZT-49]

Bump!

That settles it…We will all send a letter to the official dictionaries of the world and request them change it to sound like New-traw-pics. Anyone found pronouncing them as Noah-troh-pics shall be instantly shot on site. Same goes with Newpept.

[nowayout]

I'm going to keep calling it new-tropic. Most people seem to and I am comfortable doing it the wrong way along with the rest of the majority.

That is only helpful if you tell us how you pronounce "new." Most Americans pronounce "new" as NOO (rhymes with "moo"), while the rest of us pronounce it as NEE-OO (rhymes with "few").

Bump!

That settles it…We will all send a letter to the official dictionaries of the world and request them change it to sound like New-traw-pics. Anyone found pronouncing them as Noah-troh-pics shall be instantly shot on site. Same goes with Newpept.

Same remark.

Edited by nowayout, 15 December 2013 - 11:04 AM.

[maxwatt]

Nootropic is derived from Greek, and as such it would be pronounced with the "noo-" as two syllables, with a glottal stop between the vowels. Often the spelling includes an umlaut (two dots) over the second "oh" to so indicate, but difficult to effect with an English keyboard. I am sure that most people encountering the word in print for the first time would pronounce in as "new"tropic, and such usage is sufficiently widespread that dictionaries that merely report usage without attempting to maintain historical correctness will follow the crowd. I have always pronounced it No-oh-troh-pic, because I like to sound like an educated twat.