# How do you pronounce height? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 6, 2024, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908 "2024-04-06T01:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/41 "2024-04-08T07:04:18Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > and labeling it wrong or a mispronunciation is just indicative of the public’s general ignorance of how language works. I think it’s another facet of the phenomenon where people think they don’t have an accent; everybody else does. The assumption that everyone else is doing something ‘different’ from ‘normal’. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2024, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/42 "2024-04-08T07:13:17Z")
Are you going to argue with John Milton and the OED? > [@I might feel no slight delight if I heard "height" pronounced right.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-might-feel-no-slight-delight-if-i-heard-height-pronounced-right/379447/25): > > Interesting that “heighth” is current usage in Ireland. The second variant of “height” that OED lists is actually “highth”. Some early usages: So it’s archaic at worst. But we have an explosion of _new_ words anyway, so why not something as trivial as “heighth”? ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/43 "2024-04-08T07:58:57Z")
Height is pronounced as Hite (like kite) in Australia, I’ve never heard a th added to the end. That would be like adding a th at the end of Weight (which is pronounced the same as Wait) ---
**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:** [April 8, 2024, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/44 "2024-04-08T10:25:49Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > But we have an explosion of _new_ words anyway, so why not something as trivial as “heighth”? Because not that many people say it, and a significant percentage of them don’t say it intentionally. They wouldn’t say it if not in conjunction with words like ‘width’ and ‘depth’. Asked to spell it they realize there is no such word. The standard for adopting a new word is when ‘everybody’ says it. And ‘everybody’ doesn’t mean every single person any more than ‘nobody’ means no single person, but right now the number of people who believe ‘heighth’ is a word is closer to ‘nobody’ than ‘everybody’. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/45 "2024-04-08T12:58:42Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > the number of people who believe ‘heighth’ is a word is closer to ‘nobody’ than ‘everybody’ I suspect the percentage of English-language speakers who pronounce the word with a th sound at the end is well under half but still a significant number. I don’t know of any way to check this though. Please don’t say that something is not a word if it’s not used in your dialect. Anything that used by a group of people to speak to each other is a word. Your personal dialect doesn’t define the limits of the English language. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2024, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/46 "2024-04-08T13:14:38Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I suspect the percentage of English-language speakers who pronounce the word with a th sound at the end is well under half but still a significant number. I agree with this statement. When I was reading this discussion, it dawned on me that people I know will say ‘heighth’ will say it when also saying ‘length’ and/or ‘width’, as in describing the dimensions of something. But when describing a person, they will say ‘height’, when also saying ‘weight’. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/47 "2024-04-08T13:23:04Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Anything that used by a group of people to speak to each other is a word. But again, the question is whether it is “a word” of its own or merely an alternative pronunciation of the word “height.” ---
**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:** [April 8, 2024, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/48 "2024-04-08T13:27:07Z")
“Word” is an inherently ambiguous concept – starting with what it means when comparing languages with lots of inflections/case endings (like Spanish or Russain), vs. languages without them (e.g., English and, especially, Mandarin), vs. agglutinative languages (like Ojibwe or, apparently, Klingon). Not to mention the added complication when a language happens to also be _written down_, which often imposes yet other notions of “what is a word.” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/49 "2024-04-08T13:54:23Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > That would be like adding a th at the end of Weight (which is pronounced the same as Wait) Well, actually… that word “weight” is the clipping of “weigh+th” in the same way that “height” is the clipping of “high+th”. The “th” pronunciation is the lingering use of the original pronunciation. The “-th” suffix has been in English and its antecedents since Proto-Indo-European. The change of the suffix to “t” in the words “height” and “weight” is the variation from the typical use suffix. The statement: > [@TriPolar](#): > > They wouldn’t say it if not in conjunction with words like ‘width’ and ‘depth’. is missing the forest for the trees. It’s not that remarkable that some people still use the original form that follows the original pattern, even if prestige dialects proscribe it. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/50 "2024-04-08T15:27:42Z")
It’s not about dialects. ‘Heighth’ is not a word found in dictionaries of modern English. People can say it all they like, it’s about an accepted spelling of the word ‘height’. People may say it but I doubt they write it very often, or when asked to use it in a sentence they’ll realize the problem. Anything you say aloud that is recognized as a word may be considered a word, but in writing there are accepted spellings and ‘heighth’ is not an accepted spelling for ‘height’, nor is ‘heighth’ the spelling of any written word. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/51 "2024-04-08T15:36:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > ‘Heighth’ is not a word found in dictionaries of modern English. You need a better dictionary. I already linked to the Old English antecedent (which links to the modern versions). Here’s the Modern English: [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heighth](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heighth) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/52 "2024-04-08T17:41:07Z")
Even online Merriam-Webster has it: > **[Definition of HEIGHTH](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heighth)** > > the part that rises or extends upward the greatest distance : the highest part : summit; the most advanced or extreme point of something : zenith; the distance from the bottom to the top of someone or something standing upright… See the full... ---
**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:** [April 8, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/53 "2024-04-08T17:44:39Z")
As a dialectal variant of ‘height’, as used in the rest of the definition. I’m not trying to proscribe it’s use, I couldn’t care less if people want to say it, but it is on the outskirts of well defined words, and I’m sure that most people don’t intentionally mean to say it. Where formality is required, and I’m glad that’s not something I have to deal with anymore, the word is ‘height’. Feel free to say or write ‘heighth’ to your hearth’s content. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2024, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/54 "2024-04-08T18:12:19Z")
Most times I’d be arguing your side of a word issue like this. So I’ll be more specific about the context. When I was developing software in the late 70s to be sold by a Fortune 500 company they had useless people who’s job was to check every word that appeared on the screen or in documentation according to whatever stupid standard they arbitrarily used. Under those constraints ‘heighth’ is not a word. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/55 "2024-04-08T18:14:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > who’s Is _who’s_ a word? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/56 "2024-04-08T18:22:33Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > who’s > > Is _who’s_ a word?   “Who’s there?” But yeah, spelling mistake in the original. @TriPolar has the right idea. “Is ‘heighth’ a word?” is _not_ useful question, “what spelling should we use in this context?” _is_ a useful question. Unfortunately, many people conflate a word with a spelling, which makes discussions about words difficult. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/57 "2024-04-08T18:33:53Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Is _who’s_ a word? Yes. But I misused it. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2024, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908/58 "2024-04-09T19:04:17Z")
I dated a woman who had a number of idiosyncratic criteria that a guy would have to pass for her to consider him a possible partner. Some made sense, like she wouldn’t accept a guy who didn’t have children, arguing that being a parent forces you to make sacrifices for others in a way that non parents can’t understand. But one of her shibboleths was a guy would lose points if he pronounced “height” with a th at the end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-height/999908.md?page=2)