# 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:** 2
**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:** [August 25, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/21 "2025-08-25T17:32:21Z")
I pronounce it both ways in English. puh-PREE-kuh is what is more usual. But sometimes I will slip into the Hungarian syllable stress pattern by accenting the first syllable, but the pronunciation won’t be quite Hungarian, but more like PAH-prih-kuh. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/22 "2025-08-25T18:07:09Z")
My “other” is pap REEK a.Two P’s in the first syllable. Unless I am saying “there is too much PAHPrica in my PAPrikosh”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/23 "2025-08-25T18:16:29Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > If you’re using Hungarian paprika and want to pronounce it the Hungarian way, almost all words have the first syllable emphasized. I came here to say that. Hungarian has the stress accent on the first syllable of each word. However, the Hungarian actor S.Z. Szakall, playing a Hungarian chef for _Christmas in Connecticut_, while using paprika, put the stress on the second syllable, presumably so as not to confuse American audiences with anything too foreign. “_Now_ it’s goulash!” ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/24 "2025-08-25T21:59:46Z")
Minty Marchmont might put the emphasis on the first syllable, but she always tried too hard. ---
**Author:** ![mattgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mattgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattgg)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/25 "2025-08-26T11:37:28Z")
> [@solost](#): > > It was Christopher Kimball on Milk Street, FWIW. My wife and I have heard him pronounce “paprika” and now we always say it his way because it’s a laugh to pretend to be an insufferable twat (“twat” pronounced the British way in this context). ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/26 "2025-08-26T11:43:56Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I’ve always pronounced it pah-PREE-kah. Which is more correct? I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way, so I’ll go with that. People shape language. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2025, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/27 "2025-08-26T11:57:48Z")
> [@mattgg](#): > > (“twat” pronounced the British way in this context Which do you consider the British way, because a lot of Americans get this wrong. Many think it’s pronounced “twaht” in UK English, when it’s with an /ae/ like in both UK and US “cat.” ---
**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 26, 2025, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/28 "2025-08-26T12:22:08Z")
> [@mattgg](#): > > …now we always say it his way because it’s a laugh to pretend to be an insufferable twat (“twat” pronounced the British way in this context). 😆 > [@pulykamell](#): > > Many think it’s pronounced “twaht” in UK English, when it’s with an /ae/ like in both UK and US “cat.” In a similar vein, I think it’s odd that Americans pronounce the word ‘pasta’ the way one would think that a Brit would pronounce it- ‘pahsta’. But Brits pronounce it with an a /ae/ as in “cat”. It always sounds weird to me when a Brit pronounces “pasta” like that. ---
**Author:** ![mattgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mattgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattgg)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/29 "2025-08-26T14:12:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Which do you consider the British way, because a lot of Americans get this wrong. Many think it’s pronounced “twaht” in UK English, when it’s with an /ae/ like in both UK and US “cat.” “That cat is a twat” all rhyme in my understanding of the British way to say “twat”. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/30 "2025-08-26T15:04:15Z")
It was pronounced pa-PEEK-rah on Blue’s Clues, so that’s what I’m going with. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/31 "2025-08-26T15:28:56Z")
Perhaps another cross-the-Pond distinction: > **[How to pronounce PAPRIKA in English](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/paprika)** > > How to pronounce PAPRIKA. How to say PAPRIKA. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Learn more. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/32 "2025-08-26T15:31:08Z")
Then you are correct! I always slightly cringe when someone affects their version of an English accent and says “twat” as “twot.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/33 "2025-08-26T15:34:09Z")
OK, now that that is settled…[kinda] How do you pronounce “Caprica”? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/34 "2025-08-26T17:38:27Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Was watching a cooking show and heard the host pronounce it PAH-prih-kah. That’s the Hungarian pronunciation (which I use). Accent on the first syllable. My mother was Hungarian, and I picked it up from her. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/35 "2025-08-26T17:46:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I pronounce it both ways in English. puh-PREE-kuh is what is more usual. This is pretty much how I pronounce it, in my Midwestern American English style, with the vowel sound in the first syllable being a schwa (more or less). ---
**Author:** ![Stroopwaffels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@Stroopwaffels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stroopwaffels)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/36 "2025-08-26T18:10:43Z")
Pa-pree-kah, or pæˈprikə, with the first A pronounced like Apple, and the last A with a soft “Ah” as in Father sound. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/37 "2025-08-26T18:12:03Z")
Welcome! ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/38 "2025-08-26T21:48:25Z")
> [@solost](#): > > It always sounds weird to me when a Brit pronounces “pasta” like that. My grandmother, from Boston, pronounced “pasta” like that. It caused a very funny phone interaction between her and a restaurant in North Carolina. Grammie asked if they had pasta on the menu, was told yes, but when we got there it was a diner with some very nice looking pies. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/39 "2025-08-29T16:19:46Z")
Regarding turmeric, the accent is on the first syllable. I say pap-REE-kah. for the disputed spice. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459/40 "2025-08-29T16:21:59Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Regarding turmeric, the accent is on the first syllable. Does anyone say it differently? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-paprika/1022459.md?page=3)