# Pronunciation of Corps **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2016, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928 "2016-08-06T09:54:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/1 "2016-08-06T09:54:06Z")
Hello Everyone, Why is the word Corps pronounced as “Core”? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/2 "2016-08-06T10:19:36Z")
It’s a military term, adopted from the French, where the “-ps” is silent. See the entry at [Etymology Online](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=corps): “The modern military sense (1704) is from French _corps d’armée_ (16c.), picked up in English during Marlborough’s campaigns.” ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/3 "2016-08-06T15:44:55Z")
Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/4 "2016-08-06T16:10:07Z")
OK, then, smarty pants: is it pronounced Citicorp or, you know, Citicorp? I’ve heard both. I, for one, find the Marine Corps pronunciation amusing as a case of false aural etymology. ---
**Author:** ![andrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@andrewm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewm)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/5 "2016-08-06T16:46:19Z")
The “Corp” in “Citicorp” is short for “corporation”/“incorporated”, where the “p” is pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/6 "2016-08-06T17:53:12Z")
“coup d’état” = coo day taught ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/7 "2016-08-06T19:16:15Z")
Another question-is “corps” in this case considered to be singular or plural? ---
**Author:** ![Anarcho\_Liberalist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Anarcho\_Liberalist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anarcho_Liberalist)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/8 "2016-08-06T19:53:25Z")
Singular. The French word corps simply means body, as in the human body, related to the English word corpse. From Latin ‘corpus’. Another reason to retain the French pronunciation since awkward confusion could arise when speaking of the US Marine Corpse … But how did ‘coup d’etat’ suddenly enter this thread? And it’s pronounced coo-day-ta. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/9 "2016-08-06T20:31:26Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > “coup d’état” = coo day taught Coo day TAH. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/10 "2016-08-06T21:21:52Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Coo day TAH. My mistake, thank you … but another case of a word with a silent “p” ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/11 "2016-08-07T01:06:36Z")
> [@Anarcho\_Liberalist](#): > > Singular. It’s also [plural.](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corps) An example would be that during Desert Storm the US attacked against the Iraqi Army with two corps - the XVIII Airborne Corps and VII Corps. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/12 "2016-08-07T14:21:32Z")
It would be nice if they would fix all these words so they were spelled like they sounded. The U.S. did try going to the metric system at one time - which would have made measurements much easier, but brilliant President Reagan put a stop to that! ---
**Author:** ![Anarcho\_Liberalist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Anarcho\_Liberalist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anarcho_Liberalist)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/13 "2016-08-07T20:17:13Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > It’s also [plural.](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corps) > > An example would be that during Desert Storm the US attacked against the Iraqi Army with two corps - the XVIII Airborne Corps and VII Corps. Very true, but the question was - at least I thought - if the English word corps may have been the plural of ‘corp’, quod non. Your example does raise an interesting question though (I’m not a native speaker mjyself): the spelling is the same of course, but do English speakers say two ‘core’ or two ‘cores’? French pronounce both the same, as is often the case with plural - un livre and deux livres are both pronounced ‘lee-vr’ > [@Me\_Billy](#): > > It would be nice if they would fix all these words so they were spelled like they sounded. Uhm … great idea, but then I wouldn’t start with foreign loan words but rather with English idiosyncracies, ie design a spelling in which for instance through, though, plough and tough no longer look like they rhyme … 😐 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/14 "2016-08-07T21:58:54Z")
Pronounced “cor” whether singular or plural. The “-ps” is always silent. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/15 "2016-08-07T22:36:43Z")
Kind of goes along with “lieutenant”. In the US it’s pronounced “loo tenant” but in Canada or UK it’s “left tenant” yet to my knowledge it’s spelled the same. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/16 "2016-08-07T23:10:51Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > Kind of goes along with “lieutenant”. In the US it’s pronounced “loo tenant” but in Canada or UK it’s “left tenant” yet to my knowledge it’s spelled the same. To be precise, the British Army pronounces it “lef-ten-ant” but the Royal Navy pronounces it “leh-ten-ant.” ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/17 "2016-08-07T23:28:08Z")
> [@Anarcho\_Liberalist](#): > > Your example does raise an interesting question though (I’m not a native speaker mjyself): the spelling is the same of course, but do English speakers say two ‘core’ or two ‘cores’? My experience with the relatively unique dialect of English in the military probably makes me poorly equipped to guess what the population at large would say. I’d guess both since it’s usage is relatively uncommon outside the proper name for the USMC. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/18 "2016-08-08T14:29:38Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > My experience with the relatively unique dialect of English in the military probably makes me poorly equipped to guess what the population at large would say. I’d guess both since it’s usage is relatively uncommon outside the proper name for the USMC. 😃 Eh, the Army still has Corps as its largest structures, and when referencing multiples, generally there is a spoken reference to “cores.” As you say, the speech pattern in the military is only occasionally indicative of civilian speech patterns. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/19 "2016-08-09T01:15:10Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > To be precise, the British Army pronounces it “lef-ten-ant” but the Royal Navy pronounces it “leh-ten-ant.” I don’t think this is right. All RP pronunciations of “lieutenant” retain the -f- sound. There could be regional English accents which slur it or drop it, but I don’t think there’s a special naval pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928/20 "2016-08-09T01:53:22Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > Eh, the Army still has Corps as its largest structures, and when referencing multiples, generally there is a spoken reference to “cores.” As you say, the speech pattern in the military is only occasionally indicative of civilian speech patterns. Nitpick, Army Groups and Field Armies are each larger than a Corps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-corps/761928.md?page=2)