# How do you pronounce "Asterisk"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 5, 2024, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882 "2024-04-05T16:18:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/1 "2024-04-05T16:18:53Z")
The question is not “how _should_ you pronounce it”? It’s “Don’t go to look it up. Don’t think about it. How does it actually come out, when you open your mouth and say the word, right now”?
_Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/1))_
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/2 "2024-04-05T16:30:19Z")
I know that it’s wrong, but I immediately pronounced it -ix, because I mixed it up it with Asterix the Gaul. I have spoken the word “Asterix” thousands of times in my life, but rarely “asterisk”.
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### Author:  [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/3 "2024-04-05T16:43:15Z")
The question I pose myself is not so much whether it is pronounced -ix or isk (of course it is -ysq!), but rather which syllable is stressed. French: as-TE-risque (where the “ue” at the end is silent), Spanish and Italian: as-te-RIS-co (where the “o” isn’t), but for English I would choose AS-te-risk. And for German, Sternchen 😉
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/4 "2024-04-05T16:44:07Z")
I say ‘star’.
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### Author:  [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/5 "2024-04-05T16:46:59Z")
Mine comes out more like “Asterisksk”.
Much like during the plague of 2020 we’d make sure we brought masksks when going out.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/6 "2024-04-05T16:48:50Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I say ‘star’.
Evading the question, your honor. 😉
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/7 "2024-04-05T16:58:58Z")
I say “ick”
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/8 "2024-04-05T17:00:29Z")
As do I. I wonder if it’s a regional thing. I grew up on the west coast of the US.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/9 "2024-04-05T17:00:48Z")
I pronounce it as if I was discussing flower danger.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/10 "2024-04-05T17:06:08Z")
I pronounce it as written, “as-te-risk” but the multiple “S” noises make it sound a bit like _Parseltongue_.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/11 "2024-04-05T17:07:29Z")
ASS-trisk.
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### Author:  [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/12 "2024-04-05T17:08:16Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I say ‘star’.
Splat.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/13 "2024-04-05T17:53:43Z")
I had to learn and memorize any number of symbolic coding ‘phrases’ that used punctuation marks, and then communicate them verbally often too. Asterick → Star, Exlamation Point-\> Bang, Number Sign (Pound Sign, Hash) → Pound, Hyphen → Dash, tried to keep them short except oddly I ended up with Carat → Up Arrow. Outside of coding I do stick to the formal names though.
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### Author:  [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/14 "2024-04-05T18:03:36Z")
> [@Rhodes](#):
>
> Mine comes out more like “Asterisksk”.
this is me as well
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/15 "2024-04-05T18:05:22Z")
“What is John Jacob’s business venture”
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/16 "2024-04-05T19:08:15Z")
Little Mary donned her skates
Upon thin ice to frisk;
Wasn’t she a silly girl
Her little \* !
[ETA: not original to me! No idea where I first heard or saw it.]
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/17 "2024-04-05T19:11:18Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> I pronounce it as if I was discussing flower danger.
This.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/18 "2024-04-05T19:11:18Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Carat → Up Arrow.
We used to call that one ‘hat’
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/19 "2024-04-05T19:20:45Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#):
>
> > [@Rhodes](#):
> >
> > Mine comes out more like “Asterisksk”.
>
> this is me as well
Wow. I’ve never heard of that idea, I doubt I’ve ever heard anyone say it that way, and I’m not sure my face could make that noise even deliberately.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-asterisk/999882/20 "2024-04-05T19:35:51Z")
That’s fairly common, along with just ‘carat’. I’m pretty sure I heard someone else saying ‘up-arrow’ when spelling out some code ages ago and it got imprinted in my brain that way.
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