# How do YOU believe the word "divisive" is correctly pronounced? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 22, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677 "2012-05-22T01:27:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/21 "2012-05-22T18:10:39Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > I’m Canadian, I’ve never heard it pronounced with the “eye” sound. Me too. I assume it’s just an American thing. Let’s call the whole thing off. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/22 "2012-05-22T21:56:04Z")
British. Div-EYE-sieve. I’ve never heard it pronounced the other way. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/23 "2012-05-23T22:29:20Z")
I pronounce it the other way, just to be divisive. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/24 "2012-05-23T23:15:32Z")
Dee vi siv ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/25 "2012-05-23T23:29:24Z")
> [@madrabbitwoman](#): > > Dee vi siv I don’t think that helps at all. Someone could read that and still pronounce it either way. “Vi” could be pronounced “Vigh” or “Veh” depending on the context. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/26 "2012-05-24T00:29:05Z")
Try again (please note I’m an aussie) Dee (long e) Vigh (long i) Siv (short i) I do volunteer ESL - I should know (silent k) better ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/27 "2012-05-24T00:51:55Z")
Shit. I just voted “permissive” but I meant to vote “incisive.” ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/28 "2012-05-24T00:55:32Z")
> [@madrabbitwoman](#): > > Try again (please note I’m an aussie) Dee (long e) Vigh (long i) Siv (short i) > I do volunteer ESL - I should know (silent k) better I’m not arguing that you are wrong, I’m just saying that looking at Dee-vi-siv, to me, looks like it could go either way. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/29 "2012-05-24T01:29:37Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I’m not arguing that you are wrong, I’m just saying that looking at Dee-vi-siv, to me, looks like it could go either way. The “vi” in Dee-vi-siv is ambiguous phonetically; it could sound like “hit” without the “t” or it could sould like “high” spelled as “hi”. This is just the way _I_ am reading it; I am not saying it’s right or wrong (I know I am probably wrong). ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/30 "2012-05-24T02:24:39Z")
Another vote for either way even though I lean towards the long i version. The short one sounds more appropriate for an academic presentation however. Not sure why. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/31 "2012-05-24T06:30:38Z")
The sound of the word “EYE” is traditionally transcribed as a Y. The word is dih VY-sihv. Note also the lack of an e at the end of siv, and not using a word like sieve which is not pronounced in the usual way. Only words that follow the normal rules are so used, with the exception of the word eye. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2012, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/32 "2012-05-24T07:53:39Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The sound of the word “EYE” is traditionally transcribed as a Y. The word is dih VY-sihv. Note also the lack of an e at the end of siv, and not using a word like sieve which is not pronounced in the usual way. Only words that follow the normal rules are so used, with the exception of the word eye. “Traditionally”? There’s IPA (unambiguous, but requires special character set and an hour’s worth of self-taught training to learn how to read it); and then there are the infinite ad-hoc ways that people try to convey pronunciation without using IPA. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/33 "2012-05-24T08:36:21Z")
/dɪˈvaɪsɪv/ not /dɪˈvɪsɪv/ (nor /dɪˈvɪzɪv/ for that matter) ---
**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:** [May 24, 2012, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/34 "2012-05-24T08:59:56Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > /dɪˈvaɪsɪv/ > > not /dɪˈvɪsɪv/ (nor /dɪˈvɪzɪv/ for that matter) If this is a more or less standard way of clarifying pronunciations (for standard English speakers? Or, like IPA, does it work for anyone?), then I stand corrected and amend my previous post to add this as a third option (besides IPA, and myriad seat-of-the-pants, whatever-works solutions, like my use of “eye” earlier in this thread). Or…maybe that IS IPA, just no special characters happen to be necessary in this case? ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/35 "2012-05-24T19:11:35Z")
I’m British, and honestly I’ve never heard it pronounced to rhyme with “permissive”. Yet again I’m surprised at how much debate is possible over pronunciation I assumed was pretty clear. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/36 "2012-05-25T20:53:37Z")
The first three online dictionaries here [http://www.onelook.com/](http://www.onelook.com/) say it sounds like “incisive.” My schools pounded the use of dictionaries into us grades 1-12, so I’m going with the dictionaries here. Dictionaries are very underused these days. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/37 "2012-05-26T01:24:39Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > If this is a more or less standard way of clarifying pronunciations (for standard English speakers? Or, like IPA, does it work for anyone?), then I stand corrected and amend my previous post to add this as a third option (besides IPA, and myriad seat-of-the-pants, whatever-works solutions, like my use of “eye” earlier in this thread). > > Or…maybe that IS IPA, just no special characters happen to be necessary in this case? Yeah, that’s IPA. And, no, it’s not standard to use in English. Also, you must have missed the special character that looks like a small I. (Or perhaps you don’t have fonts that display it properly.\*) And if you don’t even know IPA, why do you think you have the expertise to tell me I’m wrong? There are three basic systems used. The one with [macrons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macron) and [breves](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breve), the one with spelled out words, and IPA. There are myriads of variations, but the one thing they don’t do is use an unfamiliar word that has an unusual pronunciation. It makes no logical sense to use “sieve” because anyone unfamiliar with that word would think it pronounced “seev” instead of “sihv.” (IPA: [siːv] vs [sɪv]). \*Hopefully my changing the font will make the small I more legible ---
**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:** [May 26, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677/38 "2012-05-26T08:28:48Z")
Okay, thanks! You’re right, I overlooked the “i’s without the dots” in Johanna’s reply. I agree that “sieve” would be a poor choice for ad hoc pronunciation guide. I can’t be sure I can spell the word, let alone predict how others pronounce it. And as for IPA…just because I said it’s easy to learn doesn’t mean I’VE taken the time to do so! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-believe-the-word-divisive-is-correctly-pronounced/622677.md?page=1)