# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/41 "2012-06-22T23:08:16Z")
The thread reminded me of when I thought acorns were egg-corns. > [@TriPolar](#): > > But for someone who says wheelbarrel, can you read? I had a roommate who was surprised when I showed him that it is not spelled “barrel”. I’m assuming he didn’t see the word much when he was learning to read. Once he became a competent enough reader so as to no longer look at individual letters and words when he read, his mind probably just inserted what he assumed he’d been hearing all along. Once he stopped to actually look, he noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/42 "2012-06-22T23:11:08Z")
I pronounce it “awfuck”, as in “Awfuck, the wife wants me to haul another yard of topsoil to the back beds.” ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/43 "2012-06-22T23:24:28Z")
If I really see fit to annoy my husband, I revert back to my hillbilly ways, and call it a ‘wheelberry’. Makes him grit his teeth EVERY time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/44 "2012-06-23T00:16:27Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Isn’t barrow and borrow prounced about the same? No, the first vowel is significantly different. As to other questions as to how it’s pronounced, the “w” is supposed to be silent, right? Oh, what do I know. Spelled out what I say is pretty close to baa(like a sheep says)-rO, but you can barely hear the r. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/45 "2012-06-23T03:56:37Z")
Stewie Griffin: “Hweel-barrow” ---
**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 23, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/46 "2012-06-23T04:48:04Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > The thread reminded me of when I thought acorns were egg-corns. > > I had a roommate who was surprised when I showed him that it is not spelled “barrel”. I’m assuming he didn’t see the word much when he was learning to read. Once he became a competent enough reader so as to no longer look at individual letters and words when he read, his mind probably just inserted what he assumed he’d been hearing all along. Once he stopped to actually look, he noticed. Yeah, I know. I’ve made some pretty dumb mistakes like that. Even when I see contradictory evidence, I just end up reinforcing the original wrong concept. This one seems so basic, but I suppose someone growing up in a city in these modern times may never see the word spelled, or even heard it rarely. Or they may have just heard it from crazy old Uncle Bob, and never realized it was just one more of those things he didn’t do quite right. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/47 "2012-06-23T04:57:46Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > My mom’s family name is Barrows, pronounced “borrows,” and even they rhyme it with arrow. 😕 If “Barrows” rhymes with “arrows” (which it does), how is it pronounced “borrows”? ---
**Author:** ![the\_apples\_fell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@the\_apples\_fell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_apples_fell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/48 "2012-06-23T05:02:20Z")
Exactly how it looks, and I do not hesitate to correct anyone pronouncing it “wheelbarrel.” ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/49 "2012-06-23T09:51:04Z")
Pronounced wheel-bear-a, and is used if the job is small enough that you don’t need a sled. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/50 "2012-06-23T12:53:47Z")
Barrow. Unless it had crackers or cheese in it. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/51 "2012-06-23T13:49:40Z")
I have always pronounced it “wheel barrel.” I never knew it was spelled wheel_barrow_. Now I feel like an idiot. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/52 "2012-06-23T17:42:16Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > Whee-ul Barrah. Cuz I tawk lock iyuss. 😃 Me too, but what is “lock iyuss”? I tawk Philly. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/53 "2012-06-23T19:32:22Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Desmond is credited with naming it. He had one in the marketplace because he bankrolled Molly who was a singer in a band. He put a big wheel on it to reflect his stature in the biz. Wow, thank you! Ever since childhood, I pictured Desmond pushing a wheelbarrow around a mah-ketplace. Now I realize that had a stand, a stall, a booth. Apparently, “barrow” survived into '60s British English, long after it had died out in US English (except in a specialized sense among archaeologists). I wonder if it’s used for “market stall” in Jamaica, the supposed locale of Sir Paul’s song (he was inspired by a Jamaican friend). ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/54 "2012-06-23T19:41:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > So you have a little accent affecting the proper pronunciation, which you know, so it’s as good as saying wheelbarrow. Anyone who thinks it’s actually pronounced wheelborrow, must not get out much, since that’s also just some accent. “Proper pronunciation”? “Actually pronounced”? _You_ must not get out much. Short of actual consonant substitution based on misunderstanding, per **Ruken** , there’s nothing wrong with any of the versions suggested in the thread. ---
**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 23, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/55 "2012-06-23T19:46:11Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > “Proper pronunciation”? “Actually pronounced”? _You_ must not get out much. > > Short of actual consonant substitution based on misunderstanding, per **Ruken** , there’s nothing wrong with any of the versions suggested in the thread. What are you talking about? I have no problem with peoples accents. If they borrow or burrow but know it’s the word barrow, that’s fine with me. It’s people who think the word is barrel that seems to strange to me. But I also mentioned that I understand how such a misconception can occur. There are likely to be a lot of words used commonly by people under the age of 20 that I wouldn’t know, or how to pronounce. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/56 "2012-06-23T20:07:20Z")
More on “barrow”…as another poster hinted, before it meant a market stall (still a current meaning in England, apparently), it meant simply the wooden tray or shelf on which produce or wares can be so displayed (or, if fitted with a wheel, moved). That is, something you CARRY – originally, a basket, as it turns out (Proto-Indo-European “bher-” = “carry”, from which we also get “bear” – not the animal, but the verb – as well as words from Latin “ferre” and its derivatives – “transfer”, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/57 "2012-06-25T01:21:22Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Me too, but what is “lock iyuss”? I tawk Philly. Since **Arky** hasn’t replied yet, I believe he means “like 'is (this.)” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/58 "2012-06-25T13:01:12Z")
The poll choices make no sense to me; if the point of the poll is to determine how people pronounce the “barrow” in “wheelbarrow”, why is the first option “barrow/borrow” when the two words are not at all similar? I would never say “wheelbarrel”, but “barrel” does sound more similar to “barrow” than “borrow”. At least the A sound is the same. Basically yeah, what they said, “wheelbarrow” rhymes with “narrow” or even better, “steel arrow”. If there is a regional dialect in the US that pronounces “barrow” and “borrow” the same, that’s news to me, but I’m interested to find out where. And finding out how they’d pronounce “narrow”, “arrow” and “sorrow”, “tomorrow”. All the same also? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/59 "2012-06-25T15:34:56Z")
-barrow, never -borrow, and certainly not -barrel. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964/60 "2012-06-25T16:05:05Z")
I am disturbed by the “…/borrow” in the poll. It rhymes with “through streets broad and narrow.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pronounce-wheelbarrow/625964.md?page=2)