Learn English – How does one pronounce “nihilism”

I can’t speak for Britain, but in all of my five semesters of American calculus and calc-related math classes, I have only ever heard [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] in that context — or any context, now that I think about it.

I just googled derivative noun pronunciation and ended up at the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. It seems to agree that [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] is the only pronunciation.

I’m sure there has to be a British math geek around here somewhere who knows for certain. :)

I'd say that your German colleagues are mishearing the English pronunciations.

The German letter ü makes the sound [y], which does not occur in English.

The words loose, poodle, food, and most other words with oo have the vowel [u], which is usually spelled u or uh in German. Historically this is a long /o/ sound that was written with "oo", the pronunciation of which has shifted to [u] as a result of the Great Vowel Shift.

Some words with oo have instead the vowel [ʊ]: good, hood, book. There is no rule that predicts which words have this pronunciation, so you have to memorize it. The [ʊ] sound occurs in German as an allophone of /u/ in closed syllables. The vowel [ʊ] is shorter, more lax, and slightly centralized relative to [u]. This sound also tends to come from an older long /o/, though the reasons for this split are complicated and obscure.

A very small number of words with oo are pronounced with an [o] vowel: door, floor. These words always end in r, because the final r colors the preceding vowel. This is the same sound that is spelled o or oh in German.