How do you pronounce "centimeter" ???

[shermrn]

Not a big deal but something that bothers me. I run into a lot of nurses who pronounce the word centimeter as sontimeter.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

Northern Midwest where T's tend to get skipped or stopped, it's SIN-uh-meeter.

I have never heard of Sontimeter.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

What I want to known is whether it's Cef-uh-PEEM, or Cef-uh-PIME.

[sapphire18]

What I want to known is whether it's Cef-uh-PEEM, or Cef-uh-PIME.

CEF-uh-peem.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

Thank you, I've taken to saying it that way, but I was never sure and there's disagreement among my colleagues...lol

[tokebi]

It is an SI unit that came from metric, but the metric prefix system, including centi- prefix, is LATIN not French. (Yes, French is a romance language, but we don't say other French derived words that way). We do not pronounce direct-Latin derivations with French pronunciation, particularly if the word has been present in English for centuries.

Yes it comes from the Latin (centum=hundred), but it is also true France is the origin of the metric system and modern science (or at least modern chemistry) spread from there. Therefore, it is reasonable that in some regions, French pronunciation is used as the norm.

Having used metric system in my native country where all that is western came from America, I've always said and heard sentimeter. A friend who came from Russia tells me that it's pronounced sahn-ti-metre in Russian.

I say no big deal. Both are correct. I'll go with the majority though. In my experience (in US) I've only heard the sohn- pronunciation from two of my nursing professors, and senti- pronunciation from countless other professors of nursing, chemistry, physics, and mathematics.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

There are thousands of words in the English language that are French in origin, if we gave each a French inflection you'd have a hard time completing a sentence without an oddly placed Fronch accent. If something costs $2.50, do you say "two dollars and fifty sahnts"? Is that thing crawling up your arm a "sahntipede"?

.

Sahntipede made me lol -i think i'm going to start saying that... but then do i have to say sahntimeter?

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

CEF-uh-peem.

lol i say cef uh pime .

and an j'una

total derail- but is it meto- pro - lol or metope - prolol?

[sapphire18]

lol i say cef uh pime .

and an j'una

total derail- but is it meto- pro - lol or metope - prolol?

Meh-TOE-pro-lol. Or as I say, "lopressor." haha

[SaoirseRN]

Meh-TOE-pro-lol. Or as I say, "lopressor." haha

In have always said it meh-TOP-ro-lol, have heard it as above, and also completely butchered in many amusing ways.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

gal i work with has butchered it two ways- meto- prolol, or even meto- propanol hahah not even close :-)

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

Michigander here... I've heard both from profs. One was actually an english prof, i suspect she was a Canadian, however-she also said ”zed” for the letter z.