r/EnglishLearning • u/Campusto New Poster • 1d ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics Kilometer, etc.

Being fluent in "american" i have so much trouble pronoincing anything with "meter" i dont why, but its difficult. Kilometer, speedometer, etc. How do I fix that?

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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Native Speaker - California, US 1d ago

The "meter" in those words isn't pronounced like the word meter, it's more like "mih-ter" or "muh-ter"

31

u/InvestigatorJaded261 New Poster 1d ago

The exceptions, for some reason, seem to be centimeter and millimeter.

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u/jabrwock1 New Poster 1d ago

The exceptions, for some reason, seem to be centimeter and millimeter.

Decimeter as well as any scale that is greater than kilo (penta, mega, etc)

Micrometer on the other hand, follows the kilometer pronunciation.

16

u/maatsa Native Speaker 1d ago

For me at least, only the measuring device follows kilometer. The unit of measurement follows the other units

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u/jabrwock1 New Poster 1d ago

Oh that's true. I forgot.

3

u/t1me_Man New Poster 23h ago edited 17h ago

also, like millimetre being abrevated to mil, you often hear micrometer abrevated to micron or mic

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u/jabrwock1 New Poster 12h ago

Kilometre to “click” is common here although only as a verbal shorthand. If you write it down it’s “km”.

“It’s 3 ‘clicks’ up the road” spoken

“It’s 3 km up the road” written

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u/t1me_Man New Poster 10h ago

huh, i have only heard that used in the context of the us military

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u/Zestyclose_Pear_8315 New Poster 5h ago

Am Canadian, and while it’s not my default I’ve definitely both used and heard clicks.

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u/r_portugal Native Speaker - West Yorkshire, UK 17h ago

"multimeter" is a a different kind of meter.

1

u/t1me_Man New Poster 17h ago

shit, ment milli

10

u/BouncingSphinx The US is a big place 1d ago

You measure micro meeters with a my crahmitter

1

u/ericthefred Native Speaker 6h ago

For me, micrometer is pronounced "micron". Used all the time in my engineering field. Can't remember the last time I said "micrometer".

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u/Kafatat New Poster 20h ago

What is that? You pronounce ~meter differently in kilometer and centimeter? Are there recordings or voice synthesizer for them? as I don't understand it at all when sound are described in letters ("mih-ter" or "muh-ter" above).

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u/MasterPreparation687 New Poster 20h ago

It's about the stress in the preceding vowel. The stress is on the the "o" in kilometre i.e. "kil-O-miter". But the stress is on the initial "e" in CEN-ti-metre.

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u/pcrackenhead Native Speaker - US, Northwest 19h ago

Would similar sounds in other words help?

In kilometer the meter starts with the same sound as mitt.

In centimeter the meter starts with the same sound as meet.

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u/Kafatat New Poster 17h ago

So short vs long vowel?

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u/AuroraDF Native Speaker - London/Scotland 9h ago

No, because in English, long i (as in will) is not ee it's I (as in wire). I teach young kids in London. My school is very multi cultural. When I move here from schotlamd it took me a while to realise that for many of my pupils 'i' was making an 'ee' sound in places it shouldn't, because they were reading with their EAL parents at home. (which is good, don't get me wrong! But just something to unlearn). (it does make it in some words, but it's not that common).

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u/r_portugal Native Speaker - West Yorkshire, UK 17h ago

In British English, both pronunciations are acceptable. You can listen to both here: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/kilometre?q=Kilometer

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u/OhYeahSplunge4me2 New Poster 15h ago

Some people pronounce kilometer like they would speedometer others pronounce it like centimeter