Pronunciation · Word list
Food and drink words
In short
Menu words borrowed from French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and Vietnamese, where English kept the foreign spelling and approximated the sound. The transcriptions here are the anglicised forms, which is how these words are actually said in an English sentence.
The pattern
Read the source language, not English: Italian ch is /k/ and sci is /ʃ/; Spanish j is /h/ and ñ is /nj/; French oi is /wa/.
All 15 words
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- croissantKWAS-onˈkwæsɒŋ · 2 syllablesOften said as kroy-SANT — reading the oi as in “boil” and the ending as a full “sant”
- quinoaKEEN-wahˈkiːnwɑː · 2 syllablesOften said as kwi-NO-ah — three syllables, reading qu as /kw/ and sounding every vowel
- gnocchiNYOK-eeˈnjɒki · 2 syllablesOften said as guh-NOTCH-ee or NO-chee — sounding the g, or softening the cch
- bruschettabroo-SKET-uhbruˈsketə · 3 syllablesOften said as broo-SHET-uh — softening the sch to /ʃ/
- espressoe-SPRES-oheˈspresəʊ · 3 syllablesOften said as ek-SPRES-oh — inserting a k that is not in the spelling
- jalapeñohal-uh-PAY-nyohˌhæləˈpeɪnjəʊ · 4 syllablesOften said as ja-la-PEE-no — reading the j as English /dʒ/ and the ñ as a plain n
- phoFUHfɜː · 1 syllableOften said as FOH — rhyming it with “go”
- edamameed-uh-MAH-mayˌedəˈmɑːmeɪ · 4 syllablesOften said as ed-uh-MAYM — three syllables, treating the final e as silent
- srirachasih-RAH-chuhsɪˈrɑːtʃə · 3 syllablesOften said as shr-ah-CHA — trying to say the /sr/ cluster as written
- prosciuttopruh-SHOO-tohprəˈʃʊtəʊ · 3 syllablesOften said as pro-skee-OO-toh — sounding the c
- paellapy-EL-uhpaɪˈelə · 3 syllablesOften said as pay-EL-ah with a hard English l, or pa-EL-ah
- macaronmak-uh-RONˌmækəˈrɒn · 3 syllablesOften said as MAK-uh-roon — confusing it with the different biscuit, macaroon
- almondAH-mundˈɑːmənd · 2 syllablesOften said as AL-mond — sounding the l
- turmericTUR-muh-rikˈtɜːmərɪk · 3 syllablesOften said as TOO-muh-rik — dropping the first r entirely
- charcuterieshar-KOO-tuh-reeʃɑːˈkuːtəri · 4 syllablesOften said as char-KOO-tuh-ree with a hard /tʃ/ start, or char-KOO-tree
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common food and drink words in English?
This list covers 15: croissant, quinoa, gnocchi, bruschetta, espresso, jalapeño, pho, edamame, and more. Each has its own page with IPA, a syllable breakdown, audio in both accents, and a recording drill.
Is there a rule behind food and drink words?
Read the source language, not English: Italian ch is /k/ and sci is /ʃ/; Spanish j is /h/ and ñ is /nj/; French oi is /wa/.
Do I need to fix all of these for IELTS?
No. IELTS scores intelligibility, not word-perfect accuracy, and it accepts every standard accent. Fix the words you actually use, starting with the frequent ones: a mispronounced everyday word costs far more than a mispronounced rare one.
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