Kratom is not only a controversial but a badly pronounced herb. This South Asian plant has several worldwide pronunciations because of different languages and accents. But even in the United States alone, consumers have different elocutions for the plant.
But how do you know if you are pronouncing it the right way? There is only one way to find out, read and see how a majority of the people say it.
Because if you are a kratom proponent and have to talk about it, at least you say it the right way or at least in a way that people can understand that you are referring to Kratom. While some of the kratom pronunciations are mind-boggling, others actually make sense.
What are the Different Ways of Pronouncing Kratom?
Pronunciation matters because it is how we say the word in our head. Here is how many people read and say Kratom. It’s hard enough to understand the colors of kratom, but nevermind the kratom strain names. Basics are white, red, green, and yellow kratom.
Currently, there are three most commonly used pronunciations:
Number 1: KRAY-tum
This is how most Americans pronounced Kratom. When you say it, you feel it rhymes with Tatum. If we split the different syllables, we see that this pronunciation has a long A sound, which comes out like “ay.” As Long A sounds are pervasive with certain American accents, many Americans have defaulted to this pronunciation.
Other than that, for the ones reading Kratom, the spellings ultimately feel natural to sound out the word, primarily if they have never heard it aloud before. But don’t settle just here because it is no way the only way that this word is read.
Number 2: KRAT-um
The second way that Kratom may be pronounced is as KRAT-um, and if you say it while reading may sound like saying the word atom. The difference with this pronunciation is that you say it with a short a sound, similar to an “a” in bat. Though reading A sounds as “ah” is considered more accurate in standard English, this way of saying a is less familiar with many American dialects.
So, who wins between the two? It can be said that pronouncing Kratom as KRAT-um is just as common as KRAY-tum, and if it is the American kratom community we are taking as a standard, both these pronunciations are equally common.
Number 3: KEH-tum
Another way Kratom is pronounced is KEH-tum. And this pronunciation is more common among South Asians.
How is Kratom Pronounced in South East Asia?
If you have made it to post in search of the correct pronunciation for saying Kratom, you might already know that the herb originates in South East Asia. It is ideal to presume how indigenous people pronounce the word may be the correct pronunciation.
But It isn’t that easy because in South Asia, too, some people say it differently than others. Or in different parts of the continent, people have their ways of saying the herb. Here is how people allocate the herb in South East Asia:
The Malay
Malay are people indigenous to Malaysia, and they say Kratom in a way that the ’r’ in Kratom sounds silent, and to your ears, it may sound like Keatom or Key-tum. Here the first sound is like saying ’key,’ and the tum is an atom. ’Kea’ or ’Kay,’ when pronounced, sounds okay.
Indo People
Indonesians have their way of saying Kratom. In fact, Indonesians have a very peculiar way of saying its name that sounds fascinating to many. They call it “Kratom.” So, the first part of the word is similar to saying spa, that is, kra, while the next part combines the T and H sounds. So, when you hear the Indo pronunciation for the first time, you may have difficulty understanding them.
Thai People
Thailand is another country where Kratom is very popular, and consumers here too, have different pronunciations. They read Kratom as Kruh-tome.” Kruh is the one that takes all the emphasis, and tome is elicited like tone like in the skin tone.
Is there a Universal pronunciation for Kratom?
So, as you can already assess, no single pronunciation of Kratom is used worldwide, so how do we know which is right? As for many other words, kratom proponents like to refer to the Oxford dictionary for the correct pronunciation, which many call the universal pronunciation. But here again, the dictionary has listed two intonations for the word.
The dictionary mentions both “KRAY-tum” and “KRAT-um” as correct. These pronunciations are already discussed above.
Other Ways to Refer to Kratom?
Do you want to save yourself from saying Kratom the wrong way? Use other words for the herb. For instance, the herb is also referred to by its scientific name. What is the scientific name in the first place?
As Kratom is a herb, it has a biological name based on the family of plants it belongs to and other scientific classifications. And this is how Kratom is mainly referred to in research articles and journals. So scientifically, Kratom is called Mitragyna Speciosa. But how do you say this?
It is pretty easy! It is pronounced as either, Mi-Tra-ginah or Me-Tra-ginah.
So the difference lies in ’mi’ and ’me.’ In the first case, MI sounds more like ’I’ as in “I am,” while in the second case, ME is like “me.” There is not much confusion about these pronunciations because both are equally correct and used.
Bottom Line
At the end of the day, what matters is that you can convey your message, and that is why you don’t have to worry too much about how you say it. If you are too concerned, you can stick to the pronunciations mentioned in the Oxford dictionary, but otherwise, it doesn’t matter a lot. As all the pronunciations have their references based on regional dialect, no pronunciation can be said wrong, and the other is entirely right.
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