How to pronounce “gnocchi”

NYOK-ee

2 syllables · stress on “NYOK”

NYOKee

Britishˈnjɒki

Americanˈnjɑːki

In short

“gnocchi” is pronounced NYOK-ee: 2 syllables, with the stress on “NYOK”. Two Italian spelling rules at once: gn is a single /nj/ sound, and cch is a hard /k/. English has neither convention. The version to avoid is guh-NOTCH-ee or NO-chee — sounding the g, or softening the cch.

Say “gnocchi” in 3 steps

1The g is silent. Start with an /nj/ sound, like the middle of “onion”.
2The cch is a hard /k/, never “ch” as in “church”.
3Two syllables: NYOK-ee.

The version to avoid

Commonly said as: guh-NOTCH-ee or NO-chee — sounding the g, or softening the cch

Two Italian spelling rules at once: gn is a single /nj/ sound, and cch is a hard /k/. English has neither convention.

Hear real people say it

Model audio is consistent; real speech is not. Hearing several actual speakers is what makes a word recognisable when someone says it at full speed.

Real speakers

2 human recordings

Actual people saying “gnocchi”, not a synthetic voice. Real speech varies — that variation is what you need to recognise, and what a single model voice cannot show you.

Recordings from Wikimedia Commons by EncycloPetey and Commander Keane, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 / CC BY-SA 4.0. Full credits.

Practise it out loud

Reading about a sound does not change your mouth. Say it, hear it back, and fix one thing at a time.

Say it yourself

0/6 practised

Listen first, then record. You get feedback on the individual sounds, the stress and the rhythm — no account needed, and nothing is stored.

Three speakers per accent

Recordings are used only to generate this feedback and are not stored. Your accent is never penalised: IELTS scores intelligibility, and so do we.

The sounds inside this word

Each links to a full guide with mouth position, audio and drills. If a word keeps failing, the problem is usually one of these.

nn as in no jy as in yes ɒo as in hot kk as in key iːee as in see

More food and drink words

Same pattern, same fix. Learning them as a group is far faster than one at a time.

croissantKWAS-on quinoaKEEN-wah bruschettabroo-SKET-uh espressoe-SPRES-oh jalapeñohal-uh-PAY-nyoh phoFUH

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce gnocchi?

gnocchi is pronounced NYOK-ee, written /ˈnjɒki/ in IPA. The g is silent. Start with an /nj/ sound, like the middle of “onion”.

How many syllables are in gnocchi?

two: NYOK-ee. The stress falls on “NYOK”.

What is the most common mistake with gnocchi?

guh-NOTCH-ee or NO-chee — sounding the g, or softening the cch. Two Italian spelling rules at once: gn is a single /nj/ sound, and cch is a hard /k/. English has neither convention.

The full sound library

Next step

Find every word you're getting wrong

SpeakMetry's Pronunciation Coach scores your speech on the features IELTS examiners assess — individual sounds, word and sentence stress, intonation and rhythm — and builds a plan from your weakest sounds. Free to start.

Try the Pronunciation Coach free