pronounce

🔊 say-it · Pronounce

Stop saying "kub-cuttle". One Bash command pronounces 1,903 developer jargon names — most with a cited source.

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🚀 Try it in 30 seconds

git clone https://github.com/anzy-renlab-ai/pronounce.git
cd pronounce && ./install.sh
say-it kubectl

That's it. Now try `say-it GIF`, `say-it nginx`, `say-it Pydantic`, `say-it --why JSON`, or `say-it quiz` for a 10-question challenge. Linux users: install `espeak-ng` (`sudo apt install espeak-ng`) and the CLI just works. Windows: same CLI under WSL or git-bash + PowerShell. Or skip install and use the browser at **pronounce.renlab.ai**.

> ⭐ If `say-it kubectl` saves you one cringey standup moment — **star the repo**. It nudges more devs to contribute their favorite mispronounced project name.

🏆 The developer pronunciation scoreboard

1,903 entries — 1,283 carry a citable source — 108 settled by the creator themselves, 175 the community still argues about. The famous ones:

✅ Settled — the creator said so

⚔️ Still contested — both readings are in active use

Every cell has IPA and audio; 1,283 also carry a citable source. **Browse all 1,903 entries →**

> Disagree with one? That's the whole point — open a PR with your reading and a source. The argument *is* the dataset.

What you're actually getting

• 1,903 entries — 1,283 carry a citable source. Confidence-tagged (`creator-clarified` / `community-consensus` / `contested`), each with a citable URL where one exists (we'd rather leave it blank than fabricate one). Wilhite said GIF is "jif" at the 2013 Webby Awards. Crockford says JSON is "JAY-son" (RailsConf 2009). RFC 7519 says JWT is "jot". The dictionary cites them.
• Multi-reading audio. For words where the debate is real — GIF, SQL, GUI, char, regex — the CLI chains the alternates after the primary with a spoken "or:" so you *hear* the debate without staring at the terminal. `--solo` skips the tail once you've internalized it.
• One Bash CLI, no npm runtime. No sudo, no framework bootstrap, no surprises. It detects macOS `say`, Linux `espeak-ng`/`espeak`, or Windows PowerShell `System.Speech`. The repo also ships a Claude Code skill and an MCP server so your AI answers "how do you pronounce X?" with audio, not a phonetic guess.
• A docs-native GitHub Action. Scan Markdown changed by a pull request and emit a sourced pronunciation glossary in the job summary — no API key, dependency install, or network request.
• Canonical website audio. The site plays each committed canonical MP3 first and uses Web Speech only as a fallback if playback fails.

$ say-it --why JSON
word              JSON
ipa               /ˈdʒeɪsən/
respelling_us     jay son
confidence        contested
source            Wikipedia § Pronunciation
url               https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON#Pronunciation

Why not just Google?

Because Google gives you 47 Reddit arguments and a YouTube clip you have to unmute. IPA gives you `/ˈkuːb kənˌtroʊl/` — a reference, not a teacher.

You don't need a phonetic transcription. You need to hear the word. Twice. Maybe three times. Done.

`say-it` ships a community-maintained dictionary of how engineers actually say the names that trip everyone up — and feeds the *intended* respelling to your OS's text-to-speech engine, so `kubectl` comes out as `koob-control`, not whatever your computer guessed from the letters.

Famous moments

Some pronunciations aren't opinions — the creators settled them. The dictionary cites every one:

Run `say-it --why ` to see the citation when an entry has a `source_url`; unsourced entries are left blank rather than given a fabricated URL.

Install

brew install anzy-renlab-ai/tap/say-it   # Homebrew on macOS

Or the "Try it in 30 seconds" block above. `./install.sh` drops:

• the CLI at `~/.local/bin/say-it`,
• the pronunciation dictionary at `~/.local/share/say-it/pronunciations.tsv`,
• if you use Claude Code, a `pronounce-word` skill at `~/.claude/skills/pronounce-word/` so any "how do you say X?" prompt to your AI gets answered with audio instead of IPA,
• the same skill into `~/.agents/skills/` (Codex CLI) and `~/.kiro/skills/` (Kiro) when those dirs exist — it's the cross-tool Agent Skills standard.

Make sure `~/.local/bin` is on your `$PATH`. Linux also works — install `espeak-ng` (`sudo apt install espeak-ng` / `brew install espeak-ng`). Windows: WSL or git-bash + PowerShell. Or skip install entirely with the browser version at **pronounce.renlab.ai**.

Usage

say-it kubectl                    # primary × 3, then "or: 

Every entry, source upgrade, and skill fix counts. Open a PR — your face shows up here.

## License

MIT — see [LICENSE](LICENSE).

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> *IPA is a reference. Audio is a teacher.*