Say ‘kilo’. Now say ‘metre’. Now put them together: ‘kilometre’ [kil-uh-mee-ter] with the stress on the first syllable. This is the same pattern as for other metric units such kilogram, kilohertz, kilolitre, centimetre and millimetre.
Why, then, do so many people in the English-speaking world mispronounce this word and say kilometre [ki-lom-i-ter] with the stress on the second syllable? It makes me cringe every time I hear it. And I hear it a lot.
Apparently, this illogical pronunciation of kilometre began in the US in the nineteenth century. I think this strange pronunciation is based on imitating the pronunciation of instruments such as thermometer, barometer and speedometer rather than understanding that kilometre is a unit of measurement. It may even be a part of the wide-spread resistance to the metric system in the English-speaking world.
By the way, in Canada at least, ‘meter’ is the spelling for a measuring device, while ‘metre’ is the proper spelling for the unit of length. I think that is true in other English-speaking countries, too.
Bottom line: I would be happier and cringe less if everyone would pronounce the word ‘kilometre’ correctly.
Thank you very much.
PS. I notice they say it correctly on the CBC.
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