Worcestershire Sauce

It was probably pronounced that way hundreds of years ago like, for example, "right" where the "gh" once represented a consonant.

its just "wuster" you dont say the shire.

I say "wuss-tuh-sheer".

Might be the original pronununciation but saying it as [we:rsest..rshai..r] makes too long of a word.

Harbinger:

The main stress fell on the first syllable. <wAr>

Think.

Syllable One: worce. How would you pronounce that in isolation?

Syllablle Two: ster. Same question but consider that's unstressed, like in hamster.

Syllable Three: In BE this rhymes with SHEAR if it's an element in a word and rhymes with tire if it stands alone. Of course it's the first then.


Put the three syllables together.

Hey presto!

Sorry Simon, but 'shire' rarely rhymes with 'beer' in British English. Trust me, it's my first language and I live in the English Midlands, not far from Worcestershire. Worcestershire has only three syllables: wuss-ter-sher. You never hear anybody in Britain say wuss-ter-she-ar-sauce. Unless they are Yanks.

YORK shear. That's how I pronounce it.

Are you from up north or something? In the Midlands we say wuss-ter-sher, york-sher, bu-king-em-sher, les-ter-sher, no-ting-em-sher, etc.