I can’t remember ever saying it out loud until the other day. In my head it’s always been wiki (rhymes with wicked) pee dee uh. My mother corrected me that it’s pronounced why kih pee dee uh. Her source for this information? My older sister who got it from her high school students (she’s an art teacher at a private military academy).
Wikipedia itself seems to support both pronounciations if I’m understanding their pronounciation key so I’m asking my fellow dopers.
You should have consulted wikipedia for the pronunciation. Just look up wikipedia on wikipedia and it’s the first thing in parentheses.
Also, to hear audio of the proper pronunciations (I prefer the UK version which is more of a ‘wika-peed-e-a’ instead of ‘wikki-peed-e-a’ sound) there’s the wiktionary entry: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wikipedia
wiktionary.org is run by the same folks and usually there’s someone who’s recorded the proper pronunciation.
There are lots of wikis: we use a few homemade ones at work, and they are all called “wick-ees” – it would be too strange to hear them called “wick-ihs” or “wick-uhs.” Someone might accidentally think we were talking about witches.
I always thought it was supposed to be along the lines of wee-kee-pee-diah, but despite that I’ve always called it Wikk-ah-PEE-diah. If I’m talking about other ones, such as the Homestar Runner Wiki, I say Wikkie. Wee-kee just doesn’t feel right.
In isolation, I pronounce “wiki” as WIHK ee – like wick + ee.
Further, I’ve said the two words to myself several times and I notice that in addition to changing the vowel sound of the second syllable, I break the syllables in different places. “wih kih PEE d’ya”, but “WIHK ee”. Curious.
