# How do you pronounce ‘paprika’? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 25, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459 "2025-08-25T16:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/1 "2025-08-25T16:38:42Z")
Was watching a cooking show and heard the host pronounce it PAH-prih-kah. I’ve always pronounced it pah-PREE-kah. Which is more correct? Is it a regional thing? I think my pronunciation is the more correct one, but I was well into adulthood when I learned turmeric was pronounced TUR-mer-ic, not tur-MARE-ic 😊 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/2 "2025-08-25T16:43:55Z")
pap-REE-kah ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/3 "2025-08-25T16:44:20Z")
This calls for a poll! _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/3))_ ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/4 "2025-08-25T16:46:23Z")
Good idea, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/5 "2025-08-25T16:47:09Z")
Except it is a bad poll missing @hajario’s suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/6 "2025-08-25T16:49:28Z")
I could be wrong, but I took @hajario ‘s pronunciation to be the same as mine, only with a slightly different phonetic spelling. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/7 "2025-08-25T16:51:49Z")
Is @hajario’s pronounciation any different from pah-PREE-kah? I’d pronounce pap-REE-kah and pah-PREE-kah the same way. I honestly didn’t include it in the poll because took it as the same pronunciation as the OP’s, just spelled a bit differently. I assumed the key was which syllable the emphasis is on. And ninjaed. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/8 "2025-08-25T16:52:44Z")
I see 3 syllables with the middle one either having a p sound or not. I pronounce the same way as @hajario. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/9 "2025-08-25T16:53:36Z")
I say papRIka, but i think PAPrika is also correct. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/10 "2025-08-25T16:55:33Z")
When it’s waterlogged it clogs your pipes _“I stressed the drains down with paprika”_ ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/11 "2025-08-25T16:57:50Z")
I see we have a couple ‘ PAH-prih-kah’s in the poll. @Der_Trihs and @Procrustus, where do you hail from, if you don’t mind my asking? I’m curious if the pronunciation is a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/12 "2025-08-25T17:04:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > . @Der_Trihs and @Procrustus, where do you hail from, if you don’t mind my asking? California, as it happens. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/13 "2025-08-25T17:04:26Z")
Was the chef talking about chicken paprikash? The paprika itself is called PAP, but the dish is called PAH. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/14 "2025-08-25T17:07:02Z")
My husband’s uncle used to call the spice paprikash. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/15 "2025-08-25T17:07:05Z")
> [@Pap-RIK-a or PAP-rik-a?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pap-rik-a-or-pap-rik-a/468237): > > How do you pronounce ‘paprika’: pap-REEK-a, PAP-rick-a, or something else, and where are you from? I grew up pronouncing it PAP-rick-a, because that’s how my parents pronounce it, but found that people look at me oddly for it. I assumed that my family had some weird, incorrect pronunciation, but couldn’t quite eradicate it. Then, today, I saw [this video](http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/on-today-how-your-broiler-can-sub-in-for-the-grill/), in which Mark Bittman pronounces it like I do (the first time is at 1:42, although later, the anchorwoman, who is pronouncing it pap-REEK-a,… Deja vu. I think both pronunciations are correct, but PAH-pri-ka was British and used to be used more here. Modern Americans are switching over to Pah-PREE-ka, which is now the way I say it. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/16 "2025-08-25T17:07:34Z")
3 flat syllables pah-pree-kah. None of them emphasised. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/17 "2025-08-25T17:09:13Z")
If you’re using Hungarian paprika and want to pronounce it the Hungarian way, almost all words have the first syllable emphasized. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/18 "2025-08-25T17:10:29Z")
No, he was pronouncing the spice, not the dish. It was Christopher Kimball on Milk Street, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/19 "2025-08-25T17:14:53Z")
Seeing that I also responded to a similar thread in 2008 (thanks Discourse) I think I like my answer better there. “Accent on 1st syllable, but then again I speak Hungarian. After reading this thread I have the weirdest mental image of someone running into battle swinging a giant sword screaming “PAPRIKKKAAAAAAA”!!” ---
**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:** [August 25, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/20 "2025-08-25T17:22:41Z")
According to the OED, there are two American pronunciations differing in the quality of the first vowel (schwa or CAT), but both have the accent on the second syllable. There are also two British pronunciations, one of which has the accent on the second syllable (same as American with schwa) and the other with the accent on the first syllable. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459.md?page=2)