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When referring to the latest Ubuntu 16.04 to friends, I often struggle about the pronunciation of "Xenial Xerus".

Is there a universal pronunciation form? If so, which is? If not, how to determine the pronunciation in my native non-English language?

Note: I am aware of a related question about Xubuntu. However, there are quite a few differences between u and e which might alter the pronunciation (like in "gel" and "gun").

Community
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    I pronounce it "sixteen point four". – Mark Aug 04 '16 at 20:15
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    @Mark isn't it 16.04, though? I say "sixteen oh four." – TheWanderer Aug 04 '16 at 21:43
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    @Zacharee1: The four is the fourth month of the year. Ubuntu version numbers will never have an ambiguity between 16.4 and 16.04. Also, even though you might write a date of April fool's day as 16.04.01, you might still say "sixteen / four / one". So the "sixteen point four" pronunciation takes advantage of the knowledge / understanding that Ubuntu version numbers are date-based. If not for this, you absolutely should pronounce the zeros in version numbers. – Peter Cordes Aug 05 '16 at 01:44
  • @Mark just like people pronounce "OS X" as "OS Ten"! :) – Andrew Grimm Aug 05 '16 at 05:48
  • jenial jerux i say. also sixteen point zero four – Anwar Aug 26 '16 at 19:20

3 Answers3

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They are both dictionary words

xenial xerus (sound clips included here)

zee-nee-ul zeer-us

or in IPA

/ˈzi:nɪəlˈzɪərəs/

Zanna
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    Wow, that is a totally different pronunciation from the one I was expecting. What about in other languages? Do you accommodate? –  Aug 04 '16 at 11:03
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    I'm curious to know how else you might pronounce it other than this? It's quite well known I thought that an X is pronounced like a Z, like in Xenophobic, for instance, it's just Zenophobic. – i-CONICA Aug 04 '16 at 11:08
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    @luchonacho you can pronounce it however you like as far as I'm concerned, but it is made up of two preexisting English words and this is the canonical (and Canonical, presumably) pronunciation of them. – Zanna Aug 04 '16 at 11:11
  • @i-CONICA. Indeed, here it says that most (but not all) of words starting with X are pronounced as Z. My original thinking was that those two words were not of English origin, and I see from Zanna's links that they come from the Greek. Maybe a Greek pronunciation of X was possible. –  Aug 04 '16 at 12:20
  • @Zanna, naturally, I can pronounce is as I like it (freedom as in free speech), but I wonder if there is a guidance in using Ubuntu names in other languages. Actually, Ubuntu as pronounced in English ("oo-boon-too”) is not how it is pronounced in Spanish (my native language). –  Aug 04 '16 at 12:27
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    @luchonacho But the canonical pronunciation of ubuntu is not an "English" pronunciation because it is not an English word. Language rules are descriptive rather than prescriptive in my opinion, but I repeat myself, these are English words and this is how to pronounce them. With time, your own language may acquire these words and evolve their pronunciation, but this is the original language so should be considered standard – Zanna Aug 04 '16 at 12:36
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    @luchonacho No “native” English words (whatever that means, for a language where over 60% of vocabulary can be traced to Latin or Greek) start with an x; almost all of them come from Greek. English speakers have a very difficult time starting a word with a ks sound for whatever reason, as one would in the original Greek for these words, so the z sound is used instead. – KRyan Aug 04 '16 at 15:23
  • Convinced! :) Good point about English language... –  Aug 04 '16 at 15:26
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    @luchonacho It’s also worth noting that in cases like phonetic radio alphabets (where words starting with a letter are used to relay that letter to reduce miscommunication), the most common choice for X is x-ray, which is pronounced eks ray —the preceding e sound makes it pronounceable for English speakers, while avoiding a z sound that might be confused for the actual letter Z. Which reminds me of another interesting example: the name Xavier is pronounced either zavier or eksavier, but never ksavier, by English speakers. – KRyan Aug 04 '16 at 15:31
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    @luchonacho Since Xenial Xerus is an English name, it should be pronounced with the English pronunciation even when talking in other languages. – Fiksdal Aug 04 '16 at 15:45
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It follows closely the Xubuntu pronunciation that you've referenced.

Zee-ni-al Zee-rus

Would be the best way to describe it.

Arronical
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The same as it sounds at Google Translate when the English language selected. Click on the speaker icon at the bottom of the input text box to listen to it pronounced. It sounds like zee-nee-al zee-rus with the accent on the first syllable in both words.

karel
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