Most Mispronounced Words of 2025: Louvre, Zohran Mamdani and Other Tongue Twisters That Tripped Up Broadcaster

written by Oneindia Staff Thu Dec 04, 11:02 pm Source

International

-Madhuri Adnal

By Oneindia Staff

Updated: Friday, December 5, 2025, 9:32 [IST]

A new list from language experts shows which words most often tripped up U.S. broadcasters and public figures during the year.

The list, released on Thursday, came from language-learning company Babbel and closed-captioning firm The Captioning Group. Their annual review highlights terms that television presenters, politicians and other public voices in the U.S. struggled to say, offering a snapshot of the people and stories that dominated conversation.

Language-learning company Babbel and The Captioning Group released their annual list of most mispronounced words in 2025, identifying common stumbling blocks for U.S. broadcasters and public figures, including names like Zohran Mamdani and Alex Murdaugh, and words like acetaminophen.

Most Mispronounced Words of 2025: Louvre, Zohran Mamdani and Other Tongue Twisters That Tripped Up Broadcaster

Most mispronounced words 2025: global names and pronunciations

Several entries on the U.S. list also appeared on a separate ranking for the U.K., produced by Babbel with the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters, a professional body for subtitling specialists. That overlap underlines how shared global stories, from museums to medicines, challenged speakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Among those shared challenges was the Louvre in Paris, the world’s most-visited museum, which again caused confusion after the theft of France’s crown jewels there in October. Babbel notes that English speakers often stumble over the correct saying, which is LOOV-ruh, with a very gentle sound on “ruh.”

Storm Éowyn, which struck Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland in January, added another tricky name to the U.K. list. Babbel says Éowyn is pronounced ay-OH-win, with a clear three-beat rhythm that many broadcasters reportedly found difficult during rolling weather coverage.

Most mispronounced words 2025: politics, medicine and crime

Political change in New York City also generated frequent mispronunciations. Zohran Mamdani’s election as the city’s next mayor meant many Americans tried to say the democratic socialist’s name on air, not always successfully, as coverage tracked a rare combination of personal firsts for the incoming leader.

When Mamdani is sworn in in January, the 34-year-old will become New York City’s first Muslim mayor, first mayor born in Africa and first mayor of South Asian heritage. Babbel recorded that people most often erred by swapping the “M” and “N” in the surname Mamdani, which should sound like zoh-RAHN mam-DAH-nee.

Mamdani has publicly said that effort matters more than perfection, yet intent still counts. During one mayoral debate, Mamdani criticised former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for mispronouncing the name and spelled it out on stage, telling the opponent: “The name is Mamdani. M-A-M-D-A-N-I.”

Medicine also featured heavily on the mispronunciation list, including a common painkiller ingredient that many households in India and worldwide recognise. Acetaminophen, found in the Tylenol, is pronounced uh-SEE-tuh-MIH-nuh-fen, but its length and syllable pattern proved difficult for some speakers, including senior political figures.

President Donald Trump struggled with acetaminophen during a message warning pregnant women about the drug. Trump urged them not to take the painkiller, even though studies had offered only inconclusive evidence about whether high use could be linked to autism, and the verbal stumble quickly became material for comedians.

Another medicine that challenged tongues was Mounjaro, part of a new wave of diabetes and obesity injections. Pronounced mown-JAHR-OH, the drug gained major attention because many people reported losing significant weight while using it, leading to intense demand and frequent discussion on television and social media.

Crime and courtroom drama also fed into pronunciation problems. The list included Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina attorney sentenced to life in prison for the 2021 murders of a wife and son. Babbel lists the correct pronunciation as AL-ick MUR-dock, which differs from how many viewers first guessed the surname.

Murdaugh’s name featured widely again in 2025 because a dramatized version of the case was released on Hulu. The streaming series brought renewed focus to the trial and ensured that presenters and viewers had fresh chances to attempt, and often misplace, the stress in the two-part name.

Most mispronounced words 2025: how experts tracked them

Babbel’s linguistic and cultural expert Esteban Touma says that unfamiliar sounds lie behind many of the stumbles, whether the source is French art, Irish storms or American politics. “A lot of these words come from different languages and so we have to adapt to a sound that we've never made before,” said Esteban Touma.

Behind the list is a quiet, methodical process. Throughout the year, captioners log terms that keep reappearing as difficult to pronounce, hard to spell or completely new. At the same time, Babbel linguists monitor language patterns and collect fresh pronunciation hurdles they notice in media and public speech.

The challenges were not limited to foreign words. A familiar Hollywood name also surprised audiences when its true origin emerged. Actor Denzel Washington told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that the name actually came from Washington’s father, who shared that first name, and that both were originally meant to sound like DEN-zul.

Washington explained that using that version for both father and child confused people, so Washington’s mother altered how the younger name was said, choosing Den-ZELLE instead. That personal detail, shared on a popular talk show, became one of the year’s most discussed pronunciation stories.

Generic acetaminophen capsules, often shown in file images from pharmacies, neatly symbolise the problem identified by Babbel and captioning professionals. Everyday products, political leaders, museums, storms and actors all contributed to a year in which pronunciation itself became part of the wider news conversation.

Word / Name	Pronunciation	Context in 2025
Zohran Mamdani	zoh-RAHN mam-DAH-nee	New York City mayor
Louvre	LOOV-ruh	Site of France's crown jewels theft
Acetaminophen	uh-SEE-tuh-MIH-nuh-fen	Painkiller ingredient discussed by Donald Trump
Alex Murdaugh	AL-ick MUR-dock	Attorney sentenced for 2021 murders
Mounjaro	mown-JAHR-OH	Diabetes and obesity drug linked to weight loss
Éowyn	ay-OH-win	Name of storm hitting parts of the U.K.

The 2025 list from Babbel and captioning partners shows that shifting news topics, from New York politics and French art thefts to new medicines and extreme weather, gave English speakers many pronunciation tests, and suggests that as global stories spread, the sounds of many languages now travel with them.