How do you pronounce IT?
Contributor(s): Jon Panker, Mark Lewis, Evan Fahey, and Melvin Jafet Vasquez
This page lists many of the most commonly mispronounced words in information technology. To hear each term pronounced, click the "play" button or the MP3 hyperlink if you don't have Flash installed. If you think an alternate pronunciation is correct or of another term in IT that people often mispronounce, please let us know.
| TERM | PRONUNCIATION | HEAR IT |
| 802.11 | eight-oh-two-dot-e-lev-n | MP3 |
| ABAP | ah-bop | MP3 |
| ACL | AY-see-el | MP3 |
| acronym | AK-ruh-nihm | MP3 |
| APAR | AY-pahr | MP3 |
| ASCII | ASK-ee | MP3 |
| BAPI | BAH-pee | MP3 |
| Beowulf | bay-oh-woolf | MP3 |
| cache | cash | MP3 |
| canonicalization | KA-nahn-nik-cal-ih-ZAY-shun | MP3 |
| CICS | kicks | MP3 |
| CISSP | Pronounce letters | MP3 |
| CLEC | cleck | MP3 |
| COMMAREA | COM-area | MP3 |
| daemon | DAY-mon | MP3 |
| data | DAY-tuh | MP3 |
| Debian | DEB-ee-an | MP3 |
| DOS | doss | MP3 |
| EBCDIC | EHB-suh-dik | MP3 |
| FAQ | Pronounce letters | MP3 |
| Fibre | fie-burr | MP3 |
| Freethem.K | free-thum-KAY (do not pronounce the dot) | MP3 |
| FUD | fud | MP3 |
| gibibyte | GIH-bee-bite | MP3 |
| GIF | giff (with a hard "g" as in goat) | MP3 |
| GNOME | nome (rhymes with home) | MP3 |
| GNU | new | MP3 |
| grok | rhymes with rock | MP3 |
| GUI | GOO-ee | MP3 |
| heterogeneous | het-ter-o-GENE-ee-us | MP3 |
| HIPAA | HIP-puh | MP3 |
| IDS | pronounce letters | MP3 |
| IPsec | EYE-PEE-sec | MP3 |
| iSCSI | EYE-scuzzy | MP3 |
| IT | EYE-TEE | MP3 |
| ITIL | eye-till | MP3 |
| J2EE | pronounce letters (and number) | MP3 |
| keitai | kay-tie | MP3 |
| Kerberos | KERR-berr-ross | MP3 |
| KLOC | KAY-lock | MP3 |
| LAN | Lan (rhymes with man) | MP3 |
| LEC | lehk | MP3 |
| Linux | LIH-nux | MP3 |
| LOB | pronounce letters | MP3 |
| LPAR | EL-par | MP3 |
| LU-LU | loo-loo | MP3 |
| mebibyte | MEH-bee-byte | MP3 |
| MEMS | mems (rhymes with stems) | |
| MIPS | mihps | MP3 |
| MySQL | my-ess-q-el | MP3 |
| NAS | nazz | MP3 |
| NetBEUI | NET-boo-ee | MP3 |
| nuclear | new-klee-er | MP3 |
| OLE | pronounce letters | MP3 |
| OS X | OH-ESS-ten | MP3 |
| parity | PAIR-ih-tee | MP3 |
| PC-cillin | PEE-CEE SIHL-uhn (rhymes with penicillin) | MP3 |
| PEBCAK | PEB-kak | MP3 |
| PoE | pronounce letters | MP3 |
| POSIX | POE-zihcks | MP3 |
| PostgreSQL | post-gree-es-q-el | MP3 |
| QAM | kwam | MP3 |
| queue | just like the letter q | MP3 |
| QWERTY | KWEHR-tee | MP3 |
| RACF | rack-EFF | MP3 |
| Rijndael | RAIN-dahl | MP3 |
| router | rowt-ter (US) or root-ter (UK) | MP3 |
| SaaS | rhymes with "glass" | MP3 |
| SAML | SAM-muhl | MP3 |
| SAP | pronounce letters | MP3 |
| SAPScript | ess-ay-pee-script | MP3 |
| SATA | SAY-tuh | MP3 |
| schema | SKI-muh | MP3 |
| SFA | pronounce letters | MP3 |
| Siebel | SEE-bull | MP3 |
| SIP | sihp | MP3 |
| SOA | soh-ah | MP3 |
| Sophos | SO-fohs | MP3 |
| SQL | SEE-kwil (or pronounce letters) | MP3 |
| SuSE | SUE-sah | MP3 |
| sysop | SISS-op | MP3 |
| UDDI | you-die or pronounce letters | MP3 |
| URL | pronounce letters | MP3 |
| VAR | vahr (rhymes with jar) | MP3 |
| vi | pronounce letters | MP3 |
| VoIP | v-OI-p | MP3 |
| WAN | wan (rhymes with man) | MP3 |
| wav file | WAVE-file | MP3 |
| WebDAV | WEB-daav | MP3 |
| Wi-Fi | WHY-FY (rhymes with sky) | MP3 |
| WLAN | double-you-LAN | MP3 |
| WSCI | WIZ-key | WSCI |
| WSDL | WIZ-dull | WSCI |
| WYSIWYG | WIZ-ee-wig | WYSIWYG |
| Xanadu | ZAN-ah-doo | Xanadu |
This was last updated in August 2007