# How do you pronounce coitus? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 3, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237 "2006-06-03T02:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/41 "2024-01-28T03:33:35Z")
I always pronounced it “KOY-tus.” It might be apocryphal (I can’t find any reference to it with a Google search) but there’s a radio station in San Francisco called KOIT FM (normally pronounced with each letter individually–K-O-I-T FM), and I heard they once got slapped because they managed to fit “KOIT Us!” into one of their commercials. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/42 "2024-01-28T05:22:41Z")
The idea (I presume, and tend to agree) is that for an obvious learned borrowing like this the classical pronunciation should be “correct”, not wrong, anyway. Wiktionary transcribes it as [ˈkoɪt̪ʊs̠], so I do not think @James66 is too far off. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/43 "2024-01-28T06:00:25Z")
Wiktionary’s Latin pronunciation [ˈkoɪt̪ʊs̠] has /ɪ/ (ih) as the second syllable, not /i/ (ee), and has the accent on the first syllable. It’s essentially the same as the OED’s first English pronunciation. Even if James66’s pronunciation were correct Latin, I don’t agree that it’s acceptable to use the Latin pronunciation for an English word, even if it’s derived from Latin. But “ko ee tuss” is neither correct Latin nor correct English. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2024, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/44 "2024-01-28T08:49:31Z")
As Descartes stated, “Coito, ergo sum” ---
**Author:** ![ColdBrew50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@ColdBrew50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdBrew50)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/45 "2024-01-28T11:17:00Z")
Well, since you asked, and I’m not bragging, but it depends on my mood. Generally, “koh’-ih-tus,” sort of like “Robitus[sun].” Meh, maybe “koy-tus” if it’s casual Fridays. Either way is acceptable to me, unlike that wretched, hideous bit of nonsense when people willingly reveal their true selves as graceless, uneducated, illiterate imposters who pronounce “processes” with a terminal “eez” sound. That’s illiterate, has no possible justification in any language, present or past, and violators should be disposed of without remorse, while the righteous are filled with the spirit of zesty enterprise which accompanies their summary execution. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/46 "2024-01-28T14:38:13Z")
If “COY-dus” is good enough for Sheldon Cooper, it’s good enough for me. And I’d like to point out it would be legal to engage in coitus with this thread in 41 of the 50 states. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/47 "2024-01-28T15:02:16Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > The idea (I presume, and tend to agree) is that for an obvious learned borrowing like this the classical pronunciation should be “correct” I think I agree with what you’re hinting at by putting “correct” in quotes. Do people have a sense that they are using a Latin word when they say it? I don’t think so, I think its fully adopted. But when correctness derives from consensus, there will always be marginal cases like this that are spoken so infrequently that no consensus exists. I think we could just say fuck it, there is no established correct pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/48 "2024-01-28T17:53:29Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > co-EE-tus is how I say it. > > Hmm. If I’ve ever said it. I don’t think I have ever said it; or heard anybody else say it in conversation; though I’ve certainly seen it written a number of times. I think in my head I’ve been saying ‘co-eet-us’, accent on the second syllable. I make no claim for the accuracy or otherwise of this. > [@davenportavenger](#): > > Good luck giving your kid a name most Americans can’t pronounce. If enough people give it, it’ll rapidly become a name that most Americans can pronounce. – good grief, it’s a zombie! > [@TriPolar](#): > > As Descartes stated, “Coito, ergo sum” Isn’t that more accurately “my parents whatever-the-third-person-is-of-coitus, ergo sum”? > [@DPRK](#): > > The idea (I presume, and tend to agree) is that for an obvious learned borrowing like this the classical pronunciation should be “correct” I’m now imagining the equivalent of this thread as a discussion, probably with wine, in Something BC. I bet there was one. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/49 "2024-01-28T18:00:17Z")
nm … ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/50 "2024-01-28T18:08:07Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Isn’t that more accurately “my parents whatever-the-third-person-is-of-coitus, ergo sum”? Wouldn’t it be the first person singular of coitare, if that is a verb for amorous Romans? If we make the verb real in pretend Latin, the grammar seems correct. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/51 "2024-01-28T18:10:08Z")
It should still be the third person; because the reason he exists isn’t because he has sex, it’s because his parents did. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/52 "2024-01-28T18:13:23Z")
Ah, I see. I was reading it more as a Descartes getting over his existential anxiety-induced erectile dysfunction and celebrating his existence through passionate lovemaking. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/53 "2024-01-28T18:18:27Z")
Coy Tess ---
**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:** [January 28, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/54 "2024-01-28T19:15:53Z")
Or it defines their existence on their sexual activity. Anyhoo, it resulted from a typo I made long ago, and seems funny enough if a Centurion doesn’t come by to correct your Latin grammar. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/55 "2024-01-28T19:23:01Z")
I don’t. I’ve never had an occasion to use the word. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/56 "2024-01-28T19:25:15Z")
You’re just coitusing with us now, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/57 "2024-01-28T19:32:34Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Wouldn’t it be the first person singular of coitare, if that is a verb for amorous Romans? But how did Romans actually talk? Was there a lot of “coeunt fiuntque parentes” or more of the “aut futue, aut pugnemus”? ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/58 "2024-01-28T19:36:40Z")
> [@Lama\_Pacos](#): > > the traditional, authentic spelling is Siobhán, with the fada on the a. My daughter’s middle name. > [@Excalibre](#): > > Judging by what I’ve seen, there will be no problem with most Americans pronouncing it because there will be about five in every kindergarten classroom. I’ve seen it spelt “Shavaun” by an American. Anybody want to try for the correct pronunciation of “Caitlin”? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/59 "2024-01-28T19:40:38Z")
Are you saying that there are nine US states where it is illegal to have sexual intercourse at the venerable age of 18? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237/60 "2024-01-28T19:43:58Z")
The thread was started June 2 2006, so it’s still got 4 months & 5 days to go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-coitus/359237.md?page=4)