Learn English – How do “you” pronounce eczema

british-englishpronunciationsilent-letters

/ˈɛɡzɪmə/, /ˈɛksɪmə/, /ˈɛksmə/

As I no longer live in the UK I don't usually hear how eczema is pronounced, so I've always pronounced it as ig-zee-muh but recently my English boyfriend told me that the only correct pronunciation is ˈɛksmə (the second e- is silent), and he's quite adamant about it! He considers my pronunciation as nothing short of an abomination. Listen to the first British speaker on Forvo to hear the "correct" pronunciation of eczema.

However, when I checked online I saw that there are three ways of pronouncing this term.

I would like to know which pronunciation is most dominant in British English and in American English. And why the second e- is sometimes silent in eckz(e)ma.

Best Answer

I just took an unscientific poll of North American professional actors (read: searched the web for eczema commercial), and "egzema" /ˈɛɡzɪmə/ was the most common, followed by the similar "eksema" /ˈɛksɪmə/. I hadn't heard "egzeema" /ɪɡˈzi:mə/ until today.

  • A TV ad for Elidel (pimecrolimus) cream 1% calls it a prescription drug to treat "egzema".
  • Another Elidel ad with an animated character also says "egzema".
  • A commercial for Gold Bond opens with a woman talking about "an eksema flareup" but it's kind of close. The voiceover says "egzema relief cream".
  • "There are better ways to soothe egzeema" than spreading ice cream all over your skin. "Try Polysporin egzeema essentials".
  • "Cortizone-10 intensive healing egzema lotion"
  • Neosporin because "Americans suffer from eksema"

The "egzema" and "eksema" pronunciations represent a common phonological process called voicing assimilation: "egzema" and "egzeema" are anticipatory while "eksema" is lag.