# Omicron pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2021, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211 "2021-11-30T13:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/21 "2021-12-01T05:11:47Z")
Frat parties taught me that the vowel in omicron was /ɒ/ while omega is more /o̞/. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/22 "2021-12-01T14:42:59Z")
My wife has caught herself a few times saying “ **omni** cron” but she explained to me last night why she was doing it. Before she retired she was buyer at a college bookstore, and one of her art supplies vendors was named “omnicron” (or maybe omnicrom? Something like that) and so that’s why she keeps stumbling on the pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/23 "2021-12-01T15:48:27Z")
Around my house we call it “Omicron Prime”. We’re hoping the next variant will be “Ultra Magnus”. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/24 "2021-12-01T16:55:56Z")
Considering English-speakers have had centuries to work through _Ouranos_ and still fail to avoid giggles, I’m only slightly more optimistic about “omicron”. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/25 "2021-12-01T18:26:55Z")
> **[I asked seven classics experts how to pronounce "omicron"](https://www.motherjones.com/media/2021/11/omicron-variant-pronunciation-classics-scholars-british-american/)** > > I didn't expect such a fierce debate. He expected seven classicists to agree on anything? 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/26 "2021-12-02T02:19:10Z")
There are two O letters in the Greek alphabet, Omega and Omicron (Big O and little O). In Greek, omicron is pronounced with the first o as in “on”. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/27 "2021-12-02T02:55:39Z")
Well, I linked to a video of Greek pronunciations of the letters above, and it does not sound like the “o” in “on” to me. And the IPA for the Greek word ὂ μικρόν and όμικρον both give /o/ in the first syllable, which is not the “o” in “on” in either UK or US English. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/28 "2021-12-02T03:05:45Z")
In my experience, Omega tends to be pronounced “o-MAY-guh” in American English and “OHM-eh-guh” in British English, so “OHM-ih-kron” certainly feels like an acceptable pronunciation to me and it’s what I’m sticking with. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/29 "2021-12-02T12:47:50Z")
Time to move on to the next variant. When come back, bring pi. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/30 "2021-12-02T12:57:10Z")
That’s irrational. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/31 "2021-12-02T12:59:38Z")
I’ve apparently pronounced it incorrectly up till now. I’ve always said oh-MY-chron. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/32 "2021-12-02T14:06:47Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Time to move on to the next variant. > > When come back, bring pi. I laughed! ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/33 "2021-12-02T16:12:54Z")
We were watching Katy Tur on the news a few days back when somebody handed her something about the new variant being named, and she announced it, saying she didn’t know how to pronounce it. It came out “oh my crone” in one of her first attempts. This is the first time I’ve ever heard a pronunciation like this. I’ve always heard “ah m’ kronn”, for, lo, nearly 50 years now. I did look it up in some online dictionary with sound, which repeated the way I’ve always heard. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/34 "2021-12-02T16:17:48Z")
There was someone on NPR yesterday who left out the “r”. It was quite distracting. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/35 "2021-12-02T16:47:10Z")
I auppose someone could use this as an argument to bring back the Classics into the curriculum… Back in the Stone Age when I worked in a small college radio station in the early 80s (10 mighty watts of power!!) the AP news teletype would put in a pseudophonetic transcription next to any unusual or foreign word or name. Now that people and organizations just post things directly to their blog or social media page, and news readers just look right at a printout thereof or even at the post itself on a device screen , folks just wing it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/36 "2021-12-02T17:49:36Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > since o **micron** is a partner letter with o **mega** (meaning small O and big O, respectively) > > Not small and big O, but short and long O. Omicron is a short O as in ‘hot’ or ‘on’, while omega is a long O as in ‘tone’ or, um, ‘omega’. Both omicron and omega have upper and lower case forms. Sure, I don’t mean that one is written larger than the other. When the letters were created, majuscule and minuscule were not a thing. I meant that one sound lasts longer than the other. However, due to weirdness in English, I think “long” and “short” can be just as confusing. Because omicron was not the sound as in “hot” or “on.” It was [o]. The closest I can think of is the word “b **o** ring.” Omega was [ɔː], like the word “d **aw** n” in some accents. You need omega + upsilon to get to the sound in “b **oa** t”. To the Greeks, the primary difference was that one vowel literally took longer to say than the other. But that’s not the case with, say, got vs. goat in English. At least, in my accent, those two vowels take just as long to say. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/37 "2021-12-02T17:53:46Z")
Anyone else lately have the Simon & Garfunkle tune “Kodachrome” rumbling around in their ears? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/38 "2021-12-02T18:01:29Z")
Fair enough. I’m not a linguist, and was just repeating what I remember of what I was taught in an introductory Κοινή Greek class 25 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/39 "2021-12-02T18:27:06Z")
I pronounce it like the O in HypnO-TOad. It’s more glorious. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211/40 "2021-12-02T19:02:43Z")
Somebody in the papers here went into this the other day. Technically the ‘i’ in micro is long in English, so it’s mike-row-scope and not meek-row-scope. But the world has decided to go with oh-meh-chron. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omicron-pronunciation/955211.md?page=3)