In BrE marchioness is pronounced /ˌmɑː.ʃənˈes/. Are there other instances where 'chi' is pronounced /ʃ/ and not /tʃ/?
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4Machine is probably the most obvious example.– Daniel RosemanCommented yesterday
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2Lots of loan words from French, like chic.– Stuart FCommented yesterday
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dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/marchioness/… or martian-ess.– LambieCommented yesterday
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1Are you asking specifically for words where the entire sequence ⟨chi⟩ corresponds only to /ʃ/ in speech (i.e., not to /ʃɪ/ or /ʃiː/)? That is arguably the case in marchioness, if you assume that the schwa between the /ʃ/ and /n/ is represented only by the ⟨o⟩, not by ⟨io⟩, but I’m not aware of any other words where it is so.– Janus Bahs JacquetCommented 19 hours ago
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2 Answers
A comment has mentioned "Machine". There are lots of words that are borrowed from French that retain the French pronunciation: attaché, brochure, cache, douchebag (slang), eschew (although this last one has several possible pronunciations)
Marchioness is from Latin marchionissa, with the pronunciation probably influenced by French.
Some more fairly common words: Champagne, chalet, moustache, parachute, chef.
One example that is not from French (but is a Latinisation of German) is "fuchsia" (which "nobody can spell").
See https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_terms_where_%27ch%27_sounds_as_%27sh%27
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An interesting example, because the Italian pronunciation is with cch =/kk/ It seems the English pronunciation is influenced by the French pistache.– James KCommented yesterday
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"macchiato" and "mocha" are others said with a "k" sound, I think some native speakers might pronounce ch as tʃ. Do they?– Mari-Lou A ♦Commented yesterday
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I am mortified to realise that I, who name-drop Elizabeth David, and consider myself very European, who laughed inside after hearing someone say 'ganotchy' for gnocchi, have been say 'radicchio' wrong for years!. Oh dear. Commented yesterday
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1How are any of those like marchioness? And it's not from French. The French for that word is marquise. Your answer is mistaken. It's comes from Medieval Latin.– LambieCommented yesterday
As a starting point, any loanword from French that has not been fully anglicized.
Commonly seen examples of this off the top of my head include:
- chute
- chef
- moustache
- charade
- cache
- chic
Less common examples include:
- chalet
- chanterelle
- chauvinism
- chamois (sometimes, not always)
- charcuterie
- chaperone
- chiffon
French proper names tend to be especially prone to retaining the French pronunciation, thus Chardonnay, Champagne, Charlotte, and Chartreuse are all like this as well (among others).
There are also plenty of words in English that did not come from French, but were influenced by it and thus use a French-style pronunciation of ‘ch’. Examples of this include ‘machine’ and ‘pistachio’.
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+1 Nice answer.Might use this when I'm teaching. Commented 16 hours ago