# How do pronounce wheelbarrow? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964 "2012-06-22T17:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/21 "2012-06-22T19:39:29Z")
Wheel-_barrow_, just as it’s spelled. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Isn’t barrow and borrow prounced about the same? . Uh, no. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/22 "2012-06-22T19:52:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What?!?! Everybody wants the car. Dog. Or boot. Or dog-in-the-boot, if at all possible. Wheelbarrow, definitely an ‘a’. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/23 "2012-06-22T19:56:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Isn’t barrow and borrow prounced about the same? you roll the “rrr” sound a bit more in barrow like barr-ah vs barr-oh but they are close. Especially if you say it in a hurry. Barrow is “bear-oh.” Borrow is “bah-ro.” At least in Minnesota, we say “wheel-bear-oh.” “Wheel-barrel” is wrong everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/24 "2012-06-22T20:07:39Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > I’m somewhere between “barrow” and “burruh.” But definitely not “borrow” or “barrel.” Ah Yeay-up. That’s how it’s sed. ::puts thumbs under armpits:: . ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/25 "2012-06-22T20:12:45Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Dog. Or boot. Or dog-in-the-boot, if at all possible. > Wheelbarrow, definitely an ‘a’. Those are always available, because people only want the car. Just think about it. Someone offers you for free a boot, a flatiron, a thimble, a wheelbarrow, a dog, or a car? Who wouldn’t take the car? Alright, really, I love dogs, so the dog is real tempting. But I already the best dog ever, so I’d definitely take the car right now. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/26 "2012-06-22T20:13:14Z")
I definitely say ‘barrow’. It’s on the same list as ‘spigot’ is in my brain. I make the effort and make a deliberate pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/27 "2012-06-22T20:13:47Z")
My mom’s family name is Barrows, pronounced “borrows,” and even they rhyme it with arrow. Not sure I’ve ever heard wheelbOrrow. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/28 "2012-06-22T20:14:41Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > Barrow is “bear-oh.” Borrow is “bah-ro.” At least in Minnesota, we say “wheel-bear-oh.” > > “Wheel-barrel” is wrong everywhere. Sure, another regional variation. But you don’t think you’re saying ‘barrel’ when you say ‘bear-oh’. It’s just how you say ‘barrow’. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/29 "2012-06-22T20:27:37Z")
“wheel-bear-oh” Barrow is pronounced bear-oh. Borrow is pronounced bar-oh. They aren’t the same in my region, nor in any accent I’ve ever heard. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/30 "2012-06-22T20:36:40Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > What?!?! Everybody wants the car. Sorry, I got for the dog, too. > [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > Barrow is “bear-oh.” Borrow is “bah-ro.” At least in Minnesota, we say “wheel-bear-oh.” > > “Wheel-barrel” is wrong everywhere. I’d say bear-oh, but I’d understand (and probably mis-hear) barrel. And I can never hear “wheelbarrow” without thinking of Grandma Dorothy’s Cousin-in Law, Buster. But that would be a thread hijack. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/31 "2012-06-22T20:47:52Z")
Whee-ul Barrah. Cuz I tawk lock iyuss. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/32 "2012-06-22T20:52:20Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > inspired by a incident at Home Depot. Do you have a “wheel borrow” huh?? she says? “wheel borrow” huh? finally I say it wrong “wheel barrel” oh yeah Aisle 10. > > I’ve always heard it as wheel borrow but spelled barrow. > > when did people start calling it wheel barrel? > > Bonus points if you can explain the word origins of barrow and why it has a wheel. Wheel _borrow_? I have never in my life heard it pronounced this way. I also think the Home Depot sales clerk probably heard “bah-roh” even though you said “bah-rel” I’ve only heard kids pronounce it ‘wheel barrel’, and not really often. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/33 "2012-06-22T21:41:42Z")
I couldn’t choose the first because I don’t hear barrow and borrow as sounding the same. But wheel barrow to rhyme with narrow is how I pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/34 "2012-06-22T21:46:39Z")
It’s been so long since I’ve seen that word written down, I forgot it wasn’t wheelbarrel, as that’s what everyone around here says. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/35 "2012-06-22T21:52:44Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Wheelbarrow rhymes with Steel Arrow. ^^ This is how I say it. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/36 "2012-06-22T21:53:15Z")
I worked with an old coot who used only two syllables for the word. He only knew about a dozen words to start with. . ---
**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:** [June 22, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/37 "2012-06-22T21:58:17Z")
'Wheel barrow, just as spelt. If I’m slurring my speech a bit, it may be more like ‘wheel burrow’, or even ‘whee uh burrow’. Borrow (which isn’t pronounced bar oh - both the os are pronounced the same) and barrel are right out. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/38 "2012-06-22T22:12:27Z")
The Cockney rhyming slang for wheelbarrow is “straight and narrow,” not “bitter sorrow.” ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/39 "2012-06-22T22:15:24Z")
Wheel-bear-oh. btw, borrow, for me, is pronounced ‘boar-oh’. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/40 "2012-06-22T23:06:22Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Isn’t barrow and borrow prounced about the same? Not close in my dialect. One has a short “a” (/æ/), the other has a vowel closer to an “ah,” like /ɒ/ or /ɑ/ (the way I say it.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964.md?page=3)