# How do you pronounce 'envelope'? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 11, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730 "2020-10-11T18:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/1 "2020-10-11T18:47:42Z")
I was just watching a video and the host said “envelope” (as in something you stick a letter in). She pronounced it, like it’s spelled, ENvelope. I realized that I don’t say it that way, I say AHnvelope. Well I was trying to make this a poll but can’t seem to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/2 "2020-10-11T18:51:20Z")
I’m with you, the other way sounds weird. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/3 "2020-10-11T18:53:45Z")
On-velope. It’s from the French, Like “encore”. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/4 "2020-10-11T18:56:30Z")
En for me, which is the most common in the UK I believe, but On is also prevalent. I still chuckle about the time someone at work asked if there were any more ‘empty letters’ - she had temporarily forgotten the word. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/5 "2020-10-11T18:56:58Z")
En, like Enterprise. The other way sounds affected, like someone’s pretending to be French. (Or Frahnch.) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/6 "2020-10-11T18:58:20Z")
I say EN-velope. Do youse “ON-velope” people say the word envelop as “on-VEL-up?” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/7 "2020-10-11T19:01:16Z")
I pronounce it “ON-vəll-lope,” but “envelop” is “en-VELL-up.” Lifelong Midwesterner, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/8 "2020-10-11T19:05:59Z")
This is the same for me. Two different pronunciations depending on the meaning of the word. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/9 "2020-10-11T19:07:45Z")
I pronounce it “En-velope” ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/10 "2020-10-11T19:11:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I pronounce it “ON-vəll-lope,” but “envelop” is “en-VELL-up.” Lifelong Midwesterner, for what it’s worth This. Also a guy from the Midwest. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/11 "2020-10-11T19:13:40Z")
_On-ve-lope._ Every other way is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/12 "2020-10-11T19:14:47Z")
It’s pronounced the way your video host pronounced it. Look at it this way, the word can also be used this way: The criminal was enveloped by the results of his deeds. You wouldn’t say that the criminal was AHnveloped, would you? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/13 "2020-10-11T19:16:09Z")
En for me, grew up in Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/14 "2020-10-11T19:17:40Z")
I worked with a CNC programmer that always referred to “pro-grums”. I never heard him refer to himself as a “pro-grummer”. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/15 "2020-10-11T19:17:52Z")
en-VEL-up, of course. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/16 "2020-10-11T19:18:42Z")
On-velope. But there is still the question of how you say ‘on’. Does it rhyme with ‘dawn’ or with ‘don’? Or do you pronounce those both the same? If you do I can’t think of how to differentiate them at the moment without using those funny characters that represent sounds. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/17 "2020-10-11T19:21:06Z")
Both ‘dawn’ and ‘don’ are pronounced the same for me as is the first sound in ‘envelope’. FTR I live in western Canada. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/18 "2020-10-11T19:27:20Z")
OK, but honestly, the judgement of pronunciations should not be left to those who pronounce about the way Canadians do. a 👢 ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/19 "2020-10-11T19:34:31Z")
I’ve only heard ‘about’ pronounced ‘aboot’ when Canadians are joking about it, or Americans think it’s real. Oh and in the movie Fargo. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730/20 "2020-10-11T19:36:24Z")
Trailer park boys, too. But I was only joking around. (I’m Chicago-ish, and occasionally catch myself saying Da. As in put it in da car. I’m a little ashamed every time I catch myself.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-envelope/922730.md?page=2)