# How do you pronounce "de Bruijn"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209 "2015-08-18T20:15:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/1 "2015-08-18T20:15:04Z")
As in de Bruijn graph, named after [Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaas_Govert_de_Bruijn). He’s Dutch and there may be no direct English pronunciation. On [this site](http://forvo.com/word/nicolaas_govert_de_bruijn/#nl) it sounds something like “de brown”. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/2 "2015-08-18T20:33:08Z")
In English, the “Bruijn” gets pronounced, commonly, like the English word “brown”. It’s in the same category of Dutch names that get Anglicized pronunciations, such as Vermeer and Van Gogh (which does not rhyme with English “go” in Dutch). The on-the-money Dutch pronunciation is [given in IPA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaas_Govert_de_Bruijn) as [brœyn]. This is essentially pronouncing English “brain” with rounded lips (cf. French vowels in _j **eu** ne, l **u** ne_ pronounced in sequence). The lip-rounding required will, to an English speaker, feel somewhat exaggerated. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/3 "2015-08-18T20:44:02Z")
I’d pronounce it somewhere close to “de broyn”. I seem to recall hearing Inge De bruijn’s name being pronounced that way on sports broadcasts. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/4 "2015-08-18T20:53:07Z")
I recall it being pronounced “bruwn”. Sort of like “rune” only throatier, a slight trill on the “r” if you can do that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/5 "2015-08-18T20:59:24Z")
Most English speakers can’t do the Dutch “R”, so let’s just concentrate on the vowels. Something like: Brurin, but with the second “r” just barely pronounced. The “u” is pronounced as in “lurk”. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/6 "2015-08-18T21:56:57Z")
I thought it was something more along the lines of _broyne_, though elongated. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/7 "2015-08-18T22:26:16Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > [given in IPA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaas_Govert_de_Bruijn) as [brœyn] No, it isn’t. It’s given as [ˈbrœy̯n] (note the diacritical mark under the y), which includes [the [œy̯] diphthong the Dutch write as “ui”](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ui#Dutch). That link has a recording of it being pronounced. IPA gets a bit tricky with diacritics. It’s a very compact notation. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/8 "2015-08-18T23:44:26Z")
The common Dutch thingy “ij”, appears to be a single letter, commonly transliterated into English as “ij” (two letters). It seems to be roughly equivalent to the English letter “y” although that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s pronounced quite the same. My brother, upon returning from hitchhiking across Europe (circa 1963), noted that the handwritten script form of ij (or ij), if you just leave the dots off, substantially resembles the English handwritten script “y”. ETA: I’m just noticing that, with this variable width font, you can’t tell the difference between “ij” (a single Dutch letter) and “ij” (two English letters). Now I’d like to put this entire post into fixed-width serif typewriter font, but I can’t remember the font name and no time to look it up before I miss the edit window. You figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/9 "2015-08-18T23:50:48Z")
The above post in courier, so you can tell ij from ij: > [@Senegoid](#): > > The common Dutch thingy “ij”, appears to be a single letter, commonly transliterated into English as “ij” (two letters). It seems to be roughly equivalent to the English letter “y” although that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s pronounced quite the same. > > My brother, upon returning from hitchhiking across Europe (circa 1963), noted that the handwritten script form of ij (or ij), if you just leave the dots off, substantially resembles the English handwritten script “y”. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/10 "2015-08-19T16:14:37Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > No, it isn’t. It’s given as [ˈbrœy̯n] (note the diacritical mark under the y), which includes [the [œy̯] diphthong the Dutch write as “ui”](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ui#Dutch). That link has a recording of it being pronounced. > > IPA gets a bit tricky with diacritics. It’s a very compact notation. Grrr … I can see that diphthong connector symbol on my phone, but not on my laptop (just see a square shape instead). I thought those symbols were optional in IPA, though? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/11 "2015-08-19T16:29:17Z")
The Windows ASCII character shortcut for the œ is ALT + 0156. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/12 "2015-08-19T16:41:55Z")
The “Ui” sound in Dutch seems to have elements of “ow” and “eye” and “oi” and “ee”. To me ears you need something close to how someone from Northern Ireland would pronounce “brown” - start saying “broy” and shift through “eye” towards ending “een”. Or something of that sort. ---
**Author:** ![polar\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/13 "2015-08-19T16:45:58Z")
Note that in Dutch names the combination “uij” as in de Bruijn or Cruijf, are pronounced exactly the same as the “ui” combination. The pronunciation of “ij” is not relevant here. As far as I know there is no equivalent of the “ui” in English, but to those who speak French, it is similar to the sound in “feuille”. According to a Dutch wiki at least. ps the “oy” pronunciation is commonly used by English speakers, we don’t mind too much. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/14 "2015-08-19T16:48:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The Windows ASCII character shortcut for the œ is ALT + 0156. Whoops – I didn’t mean the ligature of “o” and “e”. That, I can type and see. I had meant the so-called “undertie” symbol ([see description here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie_(typography)#Undertie)). **Derleth** , I am having trouble determining whether or not the undertie is obligatory for denoting diphthongs in IPA. I know it was not as of 25 years ago or so, but I also know the International Phonetic association has conferences every so often that change the rules on some of these fine points. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/15 "2015-08-19T18:13:53Z")
Oh, I see. Whoops. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_Raygun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c67d28/32.png) [@Ronald\_Raygun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_Raygun)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/16 "2015-08-19T19:14:01Z")
Echoing **polar bear** , I’ve only heard it pronounced “de Broyn”, rhyming with “coin”. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_Raygun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c67d28/32.png) [@Ronald\_Raygun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_Raygun)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/17 "2015-08-21T00:18:07Z")
> [@Ronald\_Raygun](#): > > Echoing **polar bear** , I’ve only heard it pronounced “de Broyn”, rhyming with “coin”. Of course, I just now went to a talk by Lior Pachter, and he seems to say “de Brain”. The exact vowel he was using was a little difficult to discern due to his slight accent, but I may have been over-analyzing it in light of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/18 "2015-08-21T00:34:24Z")
California here. I had a co-worker once named Bruijnes. Everyone pronounced it BRINE-ness (rhymes with “your highness” 🙂 ) I never heard of him telling anyone if that was wrong. Another company. I had a supervisor, who was native Dutch (spoke fluent English but with a strong Dutch accent), named Kleijnen. Mostly everybody pronounced it like “KLINE-en” (KLINE rhyming with “line”, “mine”, “wine”) Her own pronunciation was only just slightly subtly different than that, so I don’t really know how to describe it here. Side-note: Perhaps you know that Indonesia has a strong Dutch influence. (Former Dutch colony?) We had an Indonesian employee named Widjaja, and another Indonesian employee named Danuwidjaja. Mostly, nobody had a clue how to pronounce either of those, especially the -jaja part. Except that everybody knew, or thought they knew, that the two j’s were pronounced differently. My Dutch supervisor, however, claimed that it was perfectly well-known and obvious to any Dutch speaker how those should be pronounced. The -jaja is pronounced like -jaya, with the first j being pronounced as in English. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/19 "2015-08-21T15:37:06Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Side-note: Perhaps you know that Indonesia has a strong Dutch influence. (Former Dutch colony?) We had an Indonesian employee named Widjaja, and another Indonesian employee named Danuwidjaja. Mostly, nobody had a clue how to pronounce either of those, especially the -jaja part. Except that everybody knew, or thought they knew, that the two j’s were pronounced differently. My Dutch supervisor, however, claimed that it was perfectly well-known and obvious to any Dutch speaker how those should be pronounced. > > The -jaja is pronounced like -jaya, with the first j being pronounced as in English. This would have been true prior to the spelling reform of 1972. Indonesian use to follow Dutch practices but now conforms to Malaysian, which resembles English. Hence Djakarta is now spelled Jakarta (and pronounced as an English speaker would expect) and Jogjakarta is now spelled Yogyakarta. The name Widjaja is now spelled [Wijaya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wijaya), although some retain the traditional spelling. There are differences that can trip up an English speaker, most notably the letter ‘C’, which is pronounced ‘CH’. Hence _becak_ (formerly spelled _betjak_) is pronounced ‘bechak’ (the ‘k’ is also not aspirated, as an English speaker would tend to do). ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-de-bruijn/728209/20 "2015-08-23T04:57:09Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > The “Ui” sound in Dutch seems to have elements of “ow” and “eye” and “oi” and “ee”. To me ears you need something close to how someone from Northern Ireland would pronounce “brown” - start saying “broy” and shift through “eye” towards ending “een”. Or something of that sort. That’s what I was thinking about Google’s pronunciation (click on the speaker icon in the lower left corner). [https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&authuser=0#nl/en/de%20bruijn](https://translate.google.com/?hl=en&authuser=0#nl/en/de%20bruijn)