# D&D Pronunciation Guide **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 15, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614 "2014-08-15T16:12:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/1 "2014-08-15T16:12:03Z")
[Someone has finally compiled a huge list of pronunciation specifications for the gaming world.](http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?151-D-D-Pronunciation-Guide#.U-4MT8VdXh5) And now for the nitpicks: [ul] [li]Really, ‘kobold’ didn’t make the list?[/li][li]Salvatore contradicts himself on the pronunciation of Drizzt. Hillarious.[/li][li]As far as I’m concerned, 3-dee-six and 3-die-six are in free variation. [/li][/ul] Except for a lot of fiddly names with the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABles, this is mostly how I’ve been pronouncing things. I stress the first syllable in melee, but otherwise I’m prepared to conform in my pronunciation of Coup De Grace. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/2 "2014-08-15T16:22:59Z")
People have trouble with Kobold?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/3 "2014-08-15T16:27:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Really, ‘kobold’ didn’t make the list? Who is having trouble pronouncing kobold? Co-Bold. I’ve been a tabletop gamer all my life and been around tons of other gamers and never heard anyone pronounce it any differently. > [@](#): > > As far as I’m concerned, 3-dee-six and 3-die-six are in free variation. I’ve never ever heard anyone say it “three-die-six.” It’s always been, without exception, “three-dee-six.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/4 "2014-08-15T19:04:21Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Who is having trouble pronouncing kobold? Co-Bold. I’ve been a tabletop gamer all my life and been around tons of other gamers and never heard anyone pronounce it any differently. I’ve often heard it pronounced “cobbled.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/5 "2014-08-15T19:19:23Z")
I used to call pseudo dragons “Pah-sweyd-o dragons”. But I was eleven years old and unfamiliar with the adjective/prefix ‘pseudo’. Still makes me cringe to remember it though. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/6 "2014-08-15T21:12:58Z")
The only one I’m interested in is geas, which they say is pronounced “gesh”. Oxford Dictionary agrees. Wiktionary says [ɡɛʃ], which helps me not at all. They also say that there are English, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic versions. The latter two being [ɟasˠ] and /ɡɛʃ/. that last one looks like the English version to me. [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gei1.htm) agrees with /ɡɛʃ/, so I’d probably better look up the symbols. They probably mean “gesh.” “Gesh” was the consensus back in 2005, when I first asked [here on the SDMB](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=310966). There were fewer places to find it on the web back then. I am comforted to find that pronunciation reinforced. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/7 "2014-08-15T21:22:19Z")
Tarrasque A few years back I played with this inbred group who had known each other for 30 years (since they were 6) and had only very seldomly played with others. They pronounced it “Tear-askew”. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/8 "2014-08-15T22:22:36Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > People have trouble with Kobold?:dubious: I usually say it KOH-bald, like cobalt. I have heard others say kuh-BOLD or KAH-bold. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/9 "2014-08-16T01:47:54Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > [Someone has finally compiled a huge list of pronunciation specifications for the gaming world.](http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?151-D-D-Pronunciation-Guide#.U-4MT8VdXh5) There was a pronunciation guide in Dragon magazine #93 in 1985. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/10 "2014-08-16T15:17:18Z")
Yeah, I’m another one who, for ages, was guilty of mis-pronouncing “tarrasque”. Except I didn’t pronounce it “tear-askew”, apt though that may be, but more like “tear-askay”. Once I learned he was French, I fixed it. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/11 "2014-08-16T16:40:04Z")
I’m guilty of a couple of these. I still struggle with Drow. Growing up I thought it was pronounced to rhyme with bow, as in the weapon. I didn’t hear it pronounced correctly until Baldur’s Gate II, I think. Sometimes I still catch myself pronouncing it the wrong way. Some of them are head-scratchers, though. People pronounce lich as “lick?” Seriously? And Gygax? How else would you pronounce it? Blackguard is a new one on me. I don’t care how it’s supposed to be pronounced, I’m not retraining myself on that one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/12 "2014-08-16T16:45:37Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Wiktionary says [ɡɛʃ], which helps me not at all. Why not? IPA is the best way to represent pronunciation without ambiguity or confusion. If you’re interested in pronunciation, learn it. It shouldn’t take more than an afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/13 "2014-08-16T18:43:54Z")
Ye have encountered a Wild Gygax! I mispronounced Melee as a kid. Sometime after or during playing Monkey Island™ and visiting Mêlée Island™. I would say ar-CAH-nuh, and not ar-CAN-nuh (a in apple, not as in cat). Dictionary says “[ahr-key-nuh]”??? (One of their words of the day is bugbear!) I’ve only ever heard 1dee6. Dice is the plural, of course, but not everybody adheres to that. Lots of these are hard to mispronounce if you pay any attention to modern RPGs, etc. I find Blackguards are easily distracted by victuals tossed overboard by a boatswain. > [@Yllaria](#): > > [World Wide Words](http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gei1.htm) agrees with /ɡɛʃ/, so I’d probably better look up the symbols. They probably mean “gesh.” Yes. > [@Chronos](#): > > Once I learned he was French, I fixed it. Or Occitan, perhaps? He even has [his own city](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarascon). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-d-pronunciation-guide/695614/14 "2014-08-16T18:48:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’ve often heard it pronounced “cobbled.” Is nothing sacred to Californians?