What is the hardest word to pronounce by any lexicographer?

peasypod

"The hardest word for any lexicographer to define briefly is the Fuegian word "mamihlapinatapai". It means "looking at each other hoping that either will offer to do something which both parties desire but are unwilling to do." Taken from: http://www.nehrt.com/FunnyText/trivia3.txt One of those dubious sites that inform me I can't lick my elbow, so confirmation from a real live lexicographer might prove fruitful. Jan 03 06, 8:05 PM

JoshCaleb12

There's a difference between "define" and "pronounce"... I think Aprial is looking for the hardest word to pronounce... Jan 04 06, 1:53 AM

peasypod

I am not sure why the lexicographer would find any word more difficult to pronounce than the local milkman (one might hope they would have an easier job of it). Is the question perhaps referring to the written pronunciation key, rather than the spoken pronunciation? Jan 04 06, 7:36 AM

gmackematix

If we forget the "by any lexicographer" part, there is a language called Xhosa, native to South Africa. This language contains series of double clicks, which are deemed by many linguists to be among the hardest linguistic sounds for the world at large to pronounce. The name "Xhosa" itself starts with a tongue click not dissimilar to the sounds traditionally made when mimicking the clip-clop of a horse. Note that lexicographers study the words of a language for the compilation of dictionaries (Dr Johnson's famous definition was "a harmless drudge"). Meanwhile, linguists can mean experts in the structure of languages in general or people that are good at speaking different languages. Jan 04 06, 4:34 PM