# How to pronounce "Dirichlet" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079 "2005-11-21T15:13:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079/1 "2005-11-21T15:13:43Z")
How should an English speaker pronounce “Dirichlet”, as in the Dirichlet problem concerning harmonic functions satisfying a boundary condition? I have found some web references claiming “Dirishlett” would have been how Dirichlet himself pronounced it himself in his hometown, but most references say “Dirishlay” without explanation. How is it pronounced in mathematics and physics lectures? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079/2 "2005-11-21T15:52:35Z")
I’ve always heard it pronounced “di-ri-SHLAY”, which looks to this non-French=speaker as if it might be the correct French pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Schuyler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Schuyler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schuyler)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079/3 "2005-11-21T16:57:43Z")
Maybe only a subtle difference, but I would have pronounced it “dir ee SHLAY”. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079/4 "2005-11-21T17:52:00Z")
It’s pronounced “mangrove throatwarbler.” ---
**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 27, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079/5 "2014-04-27T22:35:30Z")
This old thread was one of the things that came up when I Googled “Dirichlet pronunciation,” after listening to a Teaching Company lecture in which the lecturer, Edward Burger, pronounced it “Diriklay” and thinking “That doesn’t sound right!” Unless I’m remembering wrong, I’d only ever heard it pronounced “Dirishlay” in lectures (the way people have suggested here), including by the professor I had for analytic number theory in grad school. But when I tried to check online, different sources give me different answers: The pronunciation guides [here](http://nsm1.nsm.iup.edu/gsstoudt/pronounce.html) and [here](http://howtosaymathematics.wordpress.com/guide/) give the “-KLAY” pronunciation; the one [here](http://www.pronounceitright.com/pronounce/2871/johann-peter-gustav-lejeune-dirichlet) gives the “-SHLAY” pronunciation; and [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirichlet) gives both alternatives. Dirichlet was German, but the name comes from French, which suggests but does not prove that Dirichlet himself would have pronounced the “CH” in the French manner. I don’t suppose anyone here knows anything more definitive? ---
**Author:** ![Itself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079/6 "2014-04-28T02:18:32Z")
Aside from the ones who spoke French, all the other mathematicians I’ve known have pronounced it as something like /"diɹɪʃ 'leɪ/, which is a decent approximation to the French pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Itself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079/7 "2014-04-28T02:19:34Z")
Oops, double post. Would a mod mind deleting this one? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-pronounce-dirichlet/332079/8 "2014-04-28T02:45:50Z")
Cool! I’ve never written a zombie thread before. It’s easy!