# Pronounciation Question - "Euler" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521 "2005-12-07T17:13:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Composer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Composer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Composer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/1 "2005-12-07T17:13:17Z")
How is the last name of the mathematician, Leonhard Euler, pronounced? Euler like “oiler” OR Euler like “yooler” I’ve always thought it was “yooler,” but a coworker says it’s “oiler.” Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/2 "2005-12-07T17:16:08Z")
oiler ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/3 "2005-12-07T17:16:09Z")
I did a school report on him years ago and read that it was pronounced “Oiler.” ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/4 "2005-12-07T17:19:24Z")
Hm. I’ve only ever heard it as “Yew-ler,” to rhyme with Beuller (as in Ferris). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Composer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Composer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Composer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/5 "2005-12-07T17:19:38Z")
Thanks. Ignorance has been fought. I’ll definitely have to get used to that pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/6 "2005-12-07T17:26:41Z")
Just to back up what people have said, [Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=euler), [Merriam-Webster Online](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/euler), and [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Euler) all agree with the “oiler” pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/7 "2005-12-07T17:28:43Z")
All my maths professors pronounce his name as “oiler”. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/8 "2005-12-07T17:32:54Z")
He was a Swiss national who spoke German as his native tongue, and in German this name is pronounced as “oiler.” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/9 "2005-12-07T17:36:32Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#): > > all agree with the “oiler” pronounciation. Take care not to extend this odd pronunciation of ‘eu’ to Euclid. People will give you funny looks if you start talking about non-oyclidean geometries. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/10 "2005-12-07T18:21:14Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Take care not to extend this odd pronunciation of ‘eu’ to Euclid. People will give you funny looks if you start talking about non-oyclidean geometries. Euclid was Greek. Euler uses the German pronounciation and is definitely pronounced “oiler”. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/11 "2005-12-07T18:21:38Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Take care not to extend this odd pronunciation of ‘eu’ to Euclid. People will give you funny looks if you start talking about non-oyclidean geometries. You might think it odd, but it’d be closer to what old Euclid himself would have said. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/12 "2005-12-07T18:44:06Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > He was a Swiss national who spoke German as his native tongue, and in German this name is pronounced as “oiler.” Which is why the ‘e’ is pronounced on ‘Porsche’. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/13 "2005-12-07T20:12:06Z")
I balked at first when pronouncing Euler’s name. After speaking German for (OMG has it been that long since German I?) 12 years now, it seems plainly obvious though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/14 "2005-12-07T20:13:24Z")
Reading what I just posted I should clarify: When I FIRST pronounced Euler’s name, it took some getting used to…which was when I learned about him in Algebra II. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/15 "2005-12-07T20:24:01Z")
As a random aside, is there a disciplinary split here? My Math profs all referred to him as “oiler”, but my aerospace professors (both, ironically, German) called him “yooler”. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/16 "2005-12-07T22:52:03Z")
I have a book on recreational mathematics written by Martin Gardner and one of the chapters is titled “Euler’s Spoilers”. Unless Mr Gardner likes to make lousy rhymes, the chapter title suggests an “oiler” pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/17 "2005-12-07T23:15:46Z")
Just be careful with pronunciations, because [as I’ve learned,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5248928) some people around here are just harsh. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/18 "2005-12-08T02:42:57Z")
The online dictionary say ‘oiler.’ ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/19 "2005-12-08T02:59:45Z")
[slight hijack] Funny the OP should ask this. On Monday, my algebra professor put _e_ on the board and asked if anyone knew what it was (it’s an algebra refresher course to prepare students for Calculus). Anyway, I seemed to be the only one who knew and said that it was Euler’s number. I pronounced Euler _yoo-ler_ since that’s the way my father, the Yale Theoretical Chemistry Ph.D., always pronounced it… She said I was right but pronounced it “_oiler_”. Thanks for clearing this up, dopers. 🙂 [/slight hijack] Adam, who can find 2,718,281,828 ways to hijack a thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521/20 "2005-12-08T03:27:28Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > … one of the chapters is titled “Euler’s Spoilers”. Unless Mr Gardner likes to make lousy rhymes, the chapter title suggests an “oiler” pronunciation. So you reject the misprint theory - that he actually meant “Spoolers”? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronounciation-question-euler/334521.md?page=2)