# Ceteris Paribus Pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 15, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339 "2004-03-15T02:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![daniel801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@daniel801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daniel801)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/1 "2004-03-15T02:05:38Z")
What’s the preferred pronunciation for “ceteris paribus” If you check [webster.com](http://webster.com), the pronunciations listed are: 'kA-t&r-&s-'par-&-b&s, 'ke-, 'se- Notice that “'se-” is listed third. However, when you click the audio pronunciation, the lady uses the “'se-” version. TIA [http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=ceteris](http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=ceteris) ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/2 "2004-03-15T02:44:21Z")
I don’t know much Latin, but it seems likely that the _ceteris_ in _ceteris paribus_ is the same word as the _cetera_ in _et cetera_. Therefore, it would be pronounced “set-er-iss pahr-i-bus”. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/3 "2004-03-15T04:28:22Z")
In classical Latin, all c’s are hard, pronounced like a “k”. So the classical Latin pronunciation is “keh tehr ees paree boos” However, the Latin spoken by the chuch is pronounced somewhat differently (c becomes ch in some instances, among other differences), and Latin words adapted into English are pronounced an entirely different way. I don’t know how ceteris paribus would come out in church Latin, but the English version would be “seh ter ihs paree buhs” ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/4 "2004-03-15T04:45:08Z")
> [@emekthian](#): > > In classical Latin, all c’s are hard, pronounced like a “k”. So the classical Latin pronunciation is “keh tehr ees paree boos” However, the Latin spoken by the chuch is pronounced somewhat differently (c becomes ch in some instances, among other differences), and Latin words adapted into English are pronounced an entirely different way. I don’t know how ceteris paribus would come out in church Latin, but the English version would be “seh ter ihs paree buhs” I had an Econ prof in college who said _KAY-te-ris PAIR-i-bus_. Of course he was Welsh and who knows what the heathens are doing with our language when out of sight. 😉 I offer this, until the classicists jump in and really teach me something, for your perusal. There are long and short vowels in Latin. ‘I’ isn’t always “ee” and ‘u’ isn’t always “oo”, having to do with accent of syllable . I think. Maybe. Like I said, I’m always willing to learn… ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/5 "2004-03-15T05:19:16Z")
KET-er-is PAR-i-bus, I believe. C is always hard in Latin, at least as it was spoken. Nowadays Latin phrases tend to be pronounced according to the rules of the language being spoken, so et cetera turned into et setera in English. Church Latin generally uses pronunciations reminiscent of Italian, hence the “ch” sound in “pacem” (accusative of “pax”, meaning peace). But c is always a “k” in real Latin. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/6 "2004-03-15T05:20:41Z")
And I see I was quite thoroughly beaten to the punch! This would be a peril of tabbed browsing. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/7 "2004-03-15T06:23:36Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > But c is always a “k” in real Latin. Running with this and the fact that “ae” (the boards don’t seem to post extended Latin characters) is more of a long i than a long e, we find that Caesar and Kaiser should be homophones. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/8 "2004-03-15T12:22:54Z")
While some may think you a bit of a tool for pronouncing “Caesar” with a hard “c,” _ceteris paribus_ is usually pronounced KAY-ter-us PAH-ree-bus in academia, i.e Economics. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/9 "2004-03-15T17:48:18Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Running with this and the fact that “ae” (the boards don’t seem to post extended Latin characters) is more of a long i than a long e, we find that Caesar and Kaiser should be homophones. Indeed. “Kaiser” did after all come originally from Latin. ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ceteris-paribus-pronunciation/234339/10 "2004-03-15T19:26:53Z")
> [@](#): > > There are long and short vowels in Latin. ‘I’ isn’t always “ee” and ‘u’ isn’t always “oo”, having to do with accent of syllable . I think. Maybe. Dangit, forgot about the long/short distinction. I _think_ that only has to do with length, but I’m not sure. Disregard the pronunciation advice I gave below!