Question

How do you pronounce “litotes”?

Answer 1

Hint: Try to say the word out loud. This will clear up the different pronunciations of the vowels. It is necessary to make sure that all the possible pronunciations of the word are tried. Then, find the most appropriate one.

Complete answer: A transliteration doesn’t tell you anything about the meaning of the word at all, but it helps you to pronounce them. Transliteration changes the letters from one alphabet or language into the respective, similar-sounding letters of another alphabet. The only way to correctly guess the answer is to try and match the sound of the word to the spelling of the word. However, the problem with the English language is that words in this language are not pronounced the way they are written all the time. The spellings are extremely deceiving, which means that there are multiple possible pronunciations of the word ‘litotes’.

Let us understand what the word means and its origins. The origins of a word can also help to find the right pronunciations. The word ‘litotes’ refers to ‘ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g. I shan't be sorry for I shall be glad)’.
The origin of the word is Greek. It comes from the Greek word ‘litos’. What we know about Greek is that the vowels are open and stressed upon in a word. This gives us important information such as the way that the ‘i’ is pronounced. The ‘e’ in Greek is also pronounced in a lengthened way - as in ‘eee’. So, the way that the word is pronounced is completely influenced by its Greek roots. The syllable in the middle will be simply glossed over as it is not a strong vowel in Greek.

The only correct way to pronounce this word is ‘lie-tuh-tees’.

Note: The way to write the answer is the transliteration of the given word. It should be written as it is pronounced. This is the only way to write the correct answer.