It’s been a timeless debate: How do you pronounce caramel? While some people pronounce it “car-mel,” others claim it is pronounced “care-a-mel,” some even claim it is pronounced “car-muhl.” Yet despite all of these different pronunciations, everyone swears that their own is correct.
For example, when you go to the coffee shop and order a salted caramel mocha, and your friend makes fun of the way you pronounce caramel (but whatever, it sounds funny the way she pronounces it, too). So, how is caramel supposed to be pronounced? I’m here to end the debate once and for all.
A Brief History
In order to truly understand the correct pronunciation of the word caramel, it’s important to understand where the word came from.
The word caramel is derived from the Latin word “cannamellis.” In which, canna means “cane” and mel/mellis means “honey.” Although, obviously, we don’t use that same Latin name. In the 18th century, the Spanish began to use the word “caramelo” which is thought to have come from the original Latin word cannamellis.
Later on, approximately in 1725, the French took the word from the Spanish and the word caramel was born. So yes, our English word is essentially the same as the French word, pronounced “care-a-melle”.
Now In English, Please
Despite it’s foreign roots, I wanted to end the debate about the American pronunciation of the word caramel. So even if the French pronounce it as care-a-melle (emphasis on the “elle”), is that really how it’s pronounced in English?
The differences between pronunciation have to do with where you are from. The Cambridge Dictionary supports two correct English pronunciations of the word caramel. According to Cambridge Dictionary, the UK’s pronunciation focuses more heavily on the care-a-mel. While in the US, it focuses more heavily on the car-a-mel.
So, Who’s Right?
While the primary difference between the United States and the United Kingdom’s pronunciations is between the “car” versus “care” emphasis, whether you say “melle” or “muhl” depends on where you are from (aka, there are multiple ways to say tequila caramel corn).
The reason that there are so many different pronunciations of caramel is because of differentiation among accents. Depending on your accent, you may put different emphasis on different vowels.
So what it comes down to is that there is no correct or incorrect way to pronounce the word caramel. So go ahead, make those maple caramel pretzel bars, and pronounce it however you’d like.