# Pronunciation of "arse" - is the R silent?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 26, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333 "2014-02-26T17:20:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/1 "2014-02-26T17:20:42Z")
I guess until recently I rarely heard the word and associated it with “arse” as opposed to just “ass” with a British twang applied to it.
Is it pretty much pronounced “oss”? That’s what I’m hearing here:
> **[arse - pronunciation of arse by Macmillan Dictionary](https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/pronunciation/british/arse_1)**
>
> Pronunciation of arse. How to say arse with audio by Macmillan Dictionary.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/2 "2014-02-26T17:23:11Z")
Depends where you are in Britain. In the south it’s _ahhss_.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/3 "2014-02-26T17:24:58Z")
Most British dialects are non-rhotic, so no, the R wouldn’t normally be pronounced as a consonant. If you’re familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet, the usual pronunciation would be something like /ɑːs/ – your “oss” is a reasonable transcription.
Of course, if you’ve got an American accent, then the R is definitely sounded: /ɑɹs/
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/4 "2014-02-26T17:33:06Z")
The R is pronounced in Canada by many speakers, particularly those with strong recent ties to the UK, such as Newfoundland. Such as the expression “arse-foremost”, which means “backwards”
In Britain, “shite” is also pronounced to rhyme with “white”.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/5 "2014-02-26T17:44:30Z")
How else would you pronounce shite? 😕
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/6 "2014-02-26T18:13:53Z")
The R would be pronounced in both Lancashire and the West Country
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/7 "2014-02-26T18:15:12Z")
> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> Most British dialects are non-rhotic, so no, the R wouldn’t normally be pronounced as a consonant. If you’re familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet, the usual pronunciation would be something like /ɑːs/ – your “oss” is a reasonable transcription.
The [Cambridge Dictionary](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/arse_1?q=arse#) in fact gives that as the UK pronunciation.
[“Ass,”](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/ass_3#) however, is pronounced differently ( æs, not aːs) even when it means butt.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/8 "2014-02-26T18:18:40Z")
> [@casdave](#):
>
> The R would be pronounced in both Lancashire and the West Country
For certain values of West Country, yes - that is, the _oi be drinking cidarr_ accent everyone thinks is so prevalent.
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### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/9 "2014-02-26T19:40:10Z")
> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> Most British dialects are non-rhotic, so no, the R wouldn’t normally be pronounced as a consonant. If you’re familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet, the usual pronunciation would be something like /ɑːs/ – your “oss” is a reasonable transcription.
>
> Of course, if you’ve got an American accent, then the R is definitely sounded: /ɑɹs/
Mostly this. It’s not that the R is specifically silent in “arse”. In fact, the R does have an effect, because “ar” makes an “ah” sound (as “ah” is pronounced here). So, in my accent at least (mostly RP) it rhymes with “pass” (pronounced “pahss”) (and “saw” and “sore” sound the same).
That may be confusing, so alternatively, it’s a bit like “Hahvahd”.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/10 "2014-02-26T20:37:17Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> I guess until recently I rarely heard the word and associated it with “arse” as opposed to just “ass” with a British twang applied to it.
>
> Is it pretty much pronounced “oss”? That’s what I’m hearing here:
> [Welcome to Macmillan Education Customer Support](http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/pronunciation/british/arse)
In Ireland, the “r” is pronounced.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/11 "2014-02-26T20:38:38Z")
> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> Most British dialects are non-rhotic
I’m not sure that’s true.
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/12 "2014-02-26T21:02:00Z")
> [@hibernicus](#):
>
> I’m not sure that’s true.
I’m not even sure it’s true if it was amended to ‘most English dialects’. (Non-rhotic accents are mainly found in the South and South-East of England).
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/13 "2014-02-26T23:13:52Z")
[Arse!](http://youtu.be/3VGP86kU2jo?t=59s)
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/14 "2014-02-26T23:32:42Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#):
>
> I’m not even sure it’s true if it was amended to ‘most English dialects’. (Non-rhotic accents are mainly found in the South and South-East of England).
In terms of population, I would guess the clear majority of native English speakers in England are non-rhotic. [The 20th Century Wikipedia map](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents), where London, Birmingham, and Manchester are all in non-rhotic areas, would seem to bear this out.
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/15 "2014-02-26T23:44:55Z")
If “arse” is largely pronounced without the r sound and in the US the word is ass, which is definitely without an r sound, whence cometh the difference. Is the original word “arse”, and those who came to America came from the r-less pronouncing areas and later changed the spelling?
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### Author:  [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/16 "2014-02-27T00:27:07Z")
AFAIK the common American spelling is a bowdlerisation. They didn’t change the spelling to conform to pronunciation; they changed it to try and make the word a bit less offensive, so that in calling someone an “ass” you could be seen as comparing him to a donkey rather than to an arse.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/17 "2014-02-27T01:01:51Z")
“Ass” meaning donkey (and with a short **a** ) is an insult in Britain too, but not nearly as strong a one as “arse”. A (British) _ass_ is a foolish, but mostly harmless and ineffectual person. An _arse_ is a very unpleasant person, one who enjoys making other people unhappy (or, at the very least, does not give a damn if he does so). As I understand it, the American “ass” is somewhere in between.
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### Author:  [@misterv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misterv)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/18 "2014-02-27T01:45:21Z")
In the midlands of Britain ‘arse’ rhymes with ‘farce’. Although I guess Americans pronounce ‘farce’ differently…
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/19 "2014-02-27T10:25:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> In terms of population, I would guess the clear majority of native English speakers in England are non-rhotic. [The 20th Century Wikipedia map](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents), where London, Birmingham, and Manchester are all in non-rhotic areas, would seem to bear this out.
Yes, that’s what I was thinking, though in my rush to reply it’s not what I ended up writing. 🙂 I actually don’t know what proportion of British dialects are rhotic, not least because the whole concept of a dialect, even more so than a language, is nebulous; if you try to count them you can get wildly different numbers depending on how granular you draw the lines. However, for any given speaker it’s (usually) not hard to characterize their speech as rhotic or non-rhotic.
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### Author:  [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-arse-is-the-r-silent/682333/20 "2014-02-27T12:46:16Z")
> [@OldGuy](#):
>
> If “arse” is largely pronounced without the r sound and in the US the word is ass, which is definitely without an r sound, whence cometh the difference. Is the original word “arse”, and those who came to America came from the r-less pronouncing areas and later changed the spelling?
It’s not that the r sound isn’t pronounced. As mentioned upthread, an English person with a non-rhotic accent will pronounce “ass” and “arse” differently.
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