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Xavier Zay-vee-ur ,ZaY-vyur; or Zav-ee-ur, ZAV-yur.

The Spanish pronunciation is hah-VYAIR.
Xavier should be pronounced in either three or two syllables, and the X should be pronounced like Z in Zanzibar. Beastly mispronunciation occurs when speakers attempt to pronounce the X like ex- in example or excuse, which winds up adding a fourth syllable to the word. Do no say ig-ZAY-vee-ur or ek-SAY-vee-ur; ...

Xanthippe zan-TIP-ee or Zan-THIP-ee.

Xanthippe was the wife of Socrates, and she is as proverbial for henpecking and browbeating the old gadfly as he is revered for dismembering his disciples with casuistry and syllogisms, since the late seventeenth century we have been using Xanthippe, spelled with a capital X, to mean an ill-tempered, shrewish woman—a termagant (TUR-muh-gant), virago (vi-RAY-goh or vi-RAH-goh).

wont WAWNT (rhymes with gaunt); or WUHNT (rhymes with hunt; or WOHNT (like won't). Occasionally WAHNT (like want).

Wont may mean accustomed, and is used attributively, as: "That night he retired at the hour he was wont to" or it may mean custom, usual practice , as: "while visiting Europe, she ran five miles each morning, as was her wont at home."
This word dates back to the twelfth century, and for most of its...

wizened WIZ-end (WIZ- as in wizard).

Wizened means withered, shrunken, shrivelled. This participial adjective was created in the early 1500s from one of the oldest words in English, the verb to wizen (WIZ-en), to dry up, wither, which dates back to the ninth century. In the late eighteenth century, wizen was used interchangeably with wizened...

wisteria wi-STEER-ee-uh. Also, for the spelling of wistaria, wi-STAIR-ee-uh.

Wisteria, the climbing shrub kith blooms in lovely pendent clusters of flowers, is often associated in literature and in American popular culture with the porticoes and verandas of steely eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dwellings, particularly the ang=tebellum mansions of the American Sopuith. It was named in honor of Caspar Wistar, ...

wastrel WAY-strel. Do not say WAH-strel (WAH- as in wasp).

Wastrel has the long A (AY0 of its of its source, the verb to waste (WAYST).
In 1961, Webster 34 included the pronunciation WAH-strel, preceded y the word sometimes to indicate that it was infrequent. Since then the increasing (though still occasional) use of WAH-strel among educated speakers has led Webster's Ninth (1985)—the most current abridgement...

werewolf WEER-wuulf (WEER- as in weary).

There are three recognized pronunciations for this word: WEER=-wuulf; WUR-wuulf (WUR- rhyming with fur); and WAIR-wuulf (WAIR- rhyming with bear). This is the order in which they appear in most current dictionaries. To remember it, and so recall the preferred pronunciation, ask yourself the question: "We were where? (We as in WEER-wuulf, were as in WUR-wuulf, and where—

wash WAHSH or WAWSH. Do not say WAHRSH or WAWRSH.

Certain speakers allow the sound of R to insinuate itself between the A and S of wash, pronouncing the word as if it were spelled warsh. Only two sources record the pronunciations WAHRSH and WAWRSH, which contain the R sound: Webber's Ninth (1985) calls them "chiefly Midland," and Webster 3 (1961) Calls them "chiefly substandard"
I

visa VEE-zuh, not VEE-suh.

Lately, more and more people have begun to pronounce this word VEE-suh, with an S rather than a Z sound, perhaps because of the influence of the voice-overs in the television commercials for the popular credit card, where it is habitually mispronounced, In 1961, Webster 3 recognized the variant, but only one source printed since—Webster's Ninth, also a Merriam-Webster dictionary—...

victuals VIT-ykz,

You can take your cue on this word from Jed Cllampitt and the other Beverly Hillbillies: VIT-ulz is the only standard pronunciation. )More often than you might think, the plain folk of the world are correct in their pronunciation of plain English words, for sometimes the result of a little education is a lot of over refinement.)
Victuals dates back to 1300. The C is left over from the Latin root,

vice versa (VY-see VUR-suh or VY-suh VUR-suh. Do not say VYS VUR-suh,

This is not the same vice as in "vice squad" or Miami Vice." That vice, which rhymes with ice and nice, comes from the Latin vitium, a fault, defect, and means depravity, immoral behaviour. The vice in vice versa is the ablative of the Latin vicis, change, turn, alternation, and is used in English as a preposition meaning in place of, instead of,

vertebrae VUR-tuh-bree, not VUR-tuh-bray.

Vertebra, the singular and vertebrae, the Latinate plural (the anglicized vertebras is also standard), are both often mispronounced VUR-tuh-bray. The error apparently goes back pretty far, and like all old errors, this one has its distinguished proponents. In The American Language (1937 edition), H. L. Mencken claims that for vertebrae, the pronunciation "vertebray is ...

vendor VEN-dur, not VEN-dor or (in legalese) ven-DOR.

Lawyers and judges habitually over pronounce certain common words, perhaps because they were taught to do so, but more likely because it keeps the layperson in awe of the solemnity and grandiloquence of the legal profession. Whatever the case, I move that VEN-dorz and ven-DORZ, along with dee-FEN-dants and JOOR-orz—which the average citizen calls VEN-durz, ...

venereal vuh-NEER-ee-al. Do not say vuh-NAIR-ee-al.
Television journalist and talk show host Geraldo Rivera says vuh-NAIR-ee-al, and, as we all know, when someone with a microphone mispronounces something, it can quickly lead to an epidemic of imitation. The Pronunciation-General's Warning is here affixed for your protection: vuh-NARI-ee-al is not recognized by dictionaries. The safe way to say it is vuh-NEER-ee-al.

vehicle VEE-i-kuhl. Do not sound the H.

vegetable VEJ-tuh-buul, not VEJ-e-ta-buul.

One day you may encounter a member of the so-called Language Police who will badger you about your grammar, scoff at your colloquialisms, pluck the prepositions from the ends of your perfectly natural sentences to stick them somewhere infinitely more awkward, and insist that the proper pronunciation of vegetable is VEJ-e=ta-buul, with four painfully distinct syllables...

vaudeville VAWD-vil or VOHD-vil. Also VAW-duh-vil.

VOHD-vil was the only pronunciation given by nineteenth-century American dictionaries, and was the preferred pronunciation of American authorities in the first half of this century. In the last thirty years, however, VAWD-vil has prevailed, and most current authorities now prefer it. Also acceptable is the three-syllable variant VAWD-uh-vil, it appeared as an ...

vase VAYS or VAYZ. Do not say VAHZ or VAWZ.

VAYS rhymes with base and case) is the prevailing and preferred American pronunciation, though VAYZ )rhymes with prose and phase) is used by many cultivated speakers. Both have been listed in American dictionaries for well over a hundred years. The pronunciation VAHZ (rhymes with Oz) and VAWZ (rhymes with cause) are British.

valet VAL-it. Now often va-LAY or VAL-ay.

In American, where most gentlemen prefer to dress themselves and do their own errands, there is little use for this word. It survives, however, as the term for an anthropomorphic rack for holding clothing and other personal effects, and in the odd custom of "valet parking," which seems to have been created to provide a socially acceptable outlet for the potentially ...

vagaries Traditionally, vuh-GAIR-eez or duh-GER-eez (E in GER- as in get). No usually VAY-guh-reez.
Vagaries is the plural of vagary—a wild dance, eccentric action, or unpredictable event—which entered the language in the late sixteenth century, formed apparently from the Latin, vagari (huh-GAH-ree), to wander. Like the Latin, vagary and vagaries were accented on the second syllable (-ga), as in these ...

usurp Traditionally, app-ZURP. Now usually yoo-SURP.

Properly, the S has the sound of Z: yup-ZURP. This is the only pronunciation listed in the Century (1914) and Webster 2 (1934), and the preference of Kenyon and Knott (1949) and the American College (1953). By the 1960s, however, yoo-SURP had usurped the throne of yoo-ZURP,, and today it reigns in all but two current sources—Funk & Wagnalls Standard (1980) ...

undertaking uhh-dur-TAY-king.

When the word undertaking is used to mean an enterprise or endeavour, it should be accented on the third syllable: uhh-dur-TAY-king. When pronounced UHN-dur-tay-king, with the accent the first syllable, the word refers to the profession of the mortician.

ultimatum uhl-ti-MAY-tum, not uhl-ti-MAH-tum.

Ultimatum entered the language about 1730. It comes directly from Latin, and for well over a hundred years hs been anglicized according to the rule for the so-called English pronunciation of Latin outlined under data, which states that vowels ending accented syllables have their long English sounds,

turgid TUR-jid.

The G in turgid is soft, which means it has the sound of J, as in rage or gypsy. Do no say TRU-gid, with a hard G, as in bargain or gaggle.

tumult TYOO-mult or TOO-mult.

Tumult is one of the words I used to mispronounce habitually. All through high-school and college I said TUHM-ult (TUHM- as in tumble), because TUH was the sound I thought I heard in the first syllable o tumultuous (which is proper pronounced too-MUHL-choo-us or too-MJUHL-choo-us., sometimes too- or tyuu-).
Not until I became and editor did I bother to check the pronunciation in a...

transient Properly, TRAN-shent.

TRAN-shent is the traditional American pronunciation—the only one given by older American dictionaries and the one still preferred by current American authorities,
All other variations listed in American dictionaries today are apparently British in origin, for they first appeared in the OED and other British dictionaries of the first half of this century.

transfer (verb) trans-FUR; (noun) TRANS-fur.

Everyone accents the noun transfer on the first syllable, which is correct, but many speakers today also accent the verb to transfer on the first syllable when it is properly the second that should receive the stress.
When a two-syllable word serves as both a noun and a verb, it is the general rule (or, it that word reminds you of schoolmarms wielding rulers—custom) ...

tousled TOW-zuuld.

TOW- rhymes with how; -zuuld rhymes with pulled. Make sure the S sounds like a Z. Do not say TOW-suuld or TUH-suuld.

tortuous TOR-choo-us.

Tortuous, when used properly, is rarely mispronounced. However, a different word, torturous, is often mistakenly used in its place, and when this confusion in usage occurs, the concomitant error is mispronunciation.
Torturous means involving torture, extremely painful. It has two Rs, and is pronounced TOR-chur-us, like torture plus us. Tortuous means crooked—either literally, in the sense ...

theater THEE-uh-tur.

Properly, this word has three syllables, but the pronounced quickly in the flow of conversation, it often comes out THEER-tur, This is hardly objectionable, however, when compared with the truly beastly mispronunciation thee-AYT-ur, which Webster
s Ninth (1985) says occurs most often in southern speech, but which Random House II (1987) calls "characteristic chiefly of uneducated speech" and ...