Pronunciation of ‘archangel’ and ‘archenemy’ in English

by Jakub Marian

Tip: See my guide to the Most Common Pronunciation Errors in English. It will teach you about commonly mispronounced words, pro­nunci­ation patterns, and the basics of English phonology.

In contrast to “arch” /ɑːtʃ/ (aatch) (UK), /ɑːrtʃ/ (artch) (US), “archangel” is pronounced with a hard “ch”, i.e. /ˈɑːkeɪndʒəl/ (aak-eyn-dzhəl) (UK), /ˈɑːrkeɪndʒəl/ (ark-eyn-dzhəl) (US). You can remember that the Mormon Church teaches that Noah (the builder of Noah’s Ark) is actually the same person as Archangel Gabriel, if it helps you to remember the correct pronunciation.

An archenemy of God would be the “opposite” of archangel, which will hopefully help you remember that it is not pronounced the same; it is /ˈɑːtʃˈɛnəmi/ (aatch-en-ə-mee) in the UK and /ˈɑrtʃˈɛnəmi/ (artch-en-ə-mee) in the US.

This article was based on my guide to English pronunciation mistakes, which explains many similar topics. Why don’t you check it out?

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