# Ratio - How many syllables **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 19, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026 "2003-11-19T02:33:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/1 "2003-11-19T02:33:13Z")
How many syllables does the word ratio have? Is it two or three? It sounds like three, but Websters has it with two syllables. ---
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/2 "2003-11-19T02:34:41Z")
Please move this to GQ. ---
**Author:** ![agiantdwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@agiantdwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agiantdwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/3 "2003-11-19T02:35:40Z")
Both. On [M-W.com](http://M-W.com), it lists two pronounciations (2 and 3). I think the one with two syllables is the British pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/4 "2003-11-19T02:43:52Z")
Does the way a word is prononuced change the number of syllables? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/5 "2003-11-19T03:49:52Z")
Three syllables. Rhymes with fellatio. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/6 "2003-11-19T03:52:47Z")
It can. For instance, cave in English is one, where as in Latin (pron: KA-vey) it is two. I’m sure there are similar examples within English but I can’t think of one right now. ---
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/7 "2003-11-19T05:18:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Three syllables. Rhymes with fellatio. The American Heritage Dictionary says fellatio has four syllables. I for one wouldn’t want to miss that syllable it is my favorite. [http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/F0072400.html](http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/F0072400.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/8 "2003-11-19T05:19:49Z")
My favorite syllable being the last. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/9 "2003-11-19T05:38:34Z")
I said it rhymed, I didn’t say it had the same number of syllables. ---
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/10 "2003-11-19T05:58:16Z")
But if I would have read what you wrote correctly I couldn’t have told my stupid joke. ---
**Author:** ![Hydrocortisone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Hydrocortisone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hydrocortisone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/11 "2003-11-19T06:10:02Z")
Back on topic. Is the number syllables a word has determined by how it is pronounced? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/12 "2003-11-19T13:35:24Z")
Depends. “Shit” is a three-syllable word in Texas. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ratio-how-many-syllables/214026/13 "2003-11-19T15:01:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hydrocortisone \* > \*\*Back on topic. Is the number syllables a word has determined by how it is pronounced? \*\* I’d say so, syllables are enunciated and so must be based on pronunciation - the word as it is heard. Personally, I’d give ratio 3, ray-she-o although I have heard people pronounce it as ray-sho, so it’s 2 to them. Different pronunciation of the same word doesn’t neccesarily give rise to different syllable counts, though. An American friend says hostile completely differently to me, but she and I both count 2 syllables in it. In both cases, though, the number of syllables comes from the way the word is pronounced.