How Do you Pronounce Multimeter?

We are sure you’ve all been there: trying to figure out how to say a word. Unless you have an app that includes a built-in dictionary with a British English accent and a how-to on pronouncing words, you will most likely find yourself clicking on a link to Wikipedia or YouTube. However, have you ever wondered how the word “Multimeter” is pronounced?

In short, a multimeter is pronounced as mul-ti-me-ter / multimee-ter.

Interesting Argument

There was an argument between a couple that was posted online. The man had already said that he pronounced it as usual as “multi-meter”. As in he lived in a “multi” level apartment and had a gas “meter”. He even searched it on Cambridge academic content dictionary. However, the woman searched YouTube and then pronounced it like “mul-timi-ter”. Like “altimeter”.

This received so many mixed reviews from other people in the forum. So, how exactly is the word pronounced?

Past Theory

In order to get to know how to pronounce it, you should take a look at how it began. (1)

Origin Source

For individual instruments, there are voltmeters, ammeters, and ohmmeters. A multi-meter is what you get when you combine them into one device that can do multiple measurements.

Pronunciation

The difference in pronunciation between the thermometer, barometer, altimeter, and other electrical units is most likely due to a consonant sound from British English before the “meter” component. This is seen in the pronunciation of galvanometer, which is more characteristic of other measurement equipment. (2)

Cambridge Dictionary Explanation

According to the Cambridge advanced learners dictionary, you can see that The term “multimeter” is a combination of the words “multi” and “meter”. To be more specific, you can see the phonetic transcript to spell and pronounce it more clearly. You can take a quick look at the British English phonetic transcript here: /ˈmʌl.tiˌmiː.tər/

Another Explanation

If you say “multi” like the prefix multi- (meaning many), then “meter” is pronounced as match-er. Putting those two words together gives you the pronunciation of multimeter.

Wrapping Up

Pronunciation is a tough part of learning English when you don’t speak it as your native language. Don’t worry, we’re here to help. With the exception of a few words in the English language that end with consonant sounds combined with vowel sounds, the multimeter has to be one of the most difficult words around to pronounce correctly. It is pronounced as mul-ti-me-ter / multimee-ter. 

Take a look at some of our related articles below.

• Learning
• Multimeters

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References
(1) Theory – https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin/evolution-today/what-is-a-theory
(2) British English – https://www.britannica.com/topic/British-English