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I've heard all of the above words with X as zeh. Is that an American English thing? What's the correct way to pronounce each word?

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closed as general reference by Matt E. Эллен, Mitch, z7sg Ѫ, kiamlaluno, Hugo Jan 9 '12 at 13:49


pronunciation of xenophobia, xenon and Xena are all available online. –  Matt E. Эллен Jan 9 '12 at 13:31

2 Answers 2

When the letter x is in the very beginning of the word, the standard way to pronounce it is /z/. This pronunciation is standard English, it isn't restricted to dialects or countries. When its position in a word is other than the very beginning, then the letter x is pronounced /ks/ as in expect or fox.

EDIT upon comment: There are certain for which the /ks/ sound doesn't apply for the letter x. Exaggerate is a good example, as well as the word example itself, where x is pronounced /gz/.

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Actually, that's a little misleading for expect. This would be pronounced /gz/ for many people. I expect exaggerate and examine are pronounced with /gz/ for most. Point is, don't oversimplify how x is pronounced out of initial position. –  ThePopMachine Jan 9 '12 at 17:50
@ThePopMachine: The standard pronunciation for "expect" is /ks/. You are right about "exaggerate" and "examine", of course, and I'll edit my answer accordingly. I wanted to make a point of the big difference of pronouncing x when it is in the beginning of a word, the sound /k/ is totally absent. –  Irene Jan 9 '12 at 19:08

I grew up in the Midwest, and we pronounced all of them with the "zee" sound.

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