Why is "solder" pronounced "sodder"?

sodder is an american pronunciation. In the UK we say it how it's spelt 'solder'

On the subject of weird pronunciation, I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned "colonel," which is even more egregious.

As a UK resident from birth, I have never heard any of my compatriots pronounce it any way other than sol-der, it's only in recent times when the overseas accents* begun to appear in more numbers did I discover this is not a universal style.

(Normally, somewhere to the far west of my maps)

I was eating salmon when I read this.

Worked at an electronics place way back when and had more than one customer ask for “smoulder.” ETA They also asked for “destruction manuals” and the “extortion rate” of cassette decks.

It's one of those relics that was intentionally added back in the 1600s-1700s to make English seem more "respectable" by sliding in long-lost letters that trace back to Latin roots.

"Solder" had lost its "L" over a millennium before, but it was "manually" added back to seem more like the Latin "solidare".

Same deal with "endict", "psychology", and dozens of others.

English spellings are often frozen at a point in time, but pronunciation changes. This happens in other languages (e.g. Farsi), too. There is even a term for it, diglossia. Words like "knee" and "knight" aren't weird borrowings, but reflect how those words used to be pronounced.

Op don’t give the British a pass on their pronunciation - I just visited Cambridge and they pronounce Magdalene college as “mawd-lyn”.

I moved to America in my early twenties. I’m in my fifties now and that’s one of the few words that I absolutely refused to pronounce the American way. It will always be “solder” for me. Another one I won’t change is pronouncing the H on Herb.

Definitely an American thing, as an Aussie, everyone I have spoken to on the subject says solder, not sodder.

Hold on a second. I feel like im having a culture shock, to my own culture. I am american. I have NEVER heard "sodder" before. I've ALWAYS said and heard people say "solder." I have a feeling it's not as common as it feels in this comments section.

Im from Florida, but have lived in the midwest for half a decade now.

I live in the American south and have never heard anyone pronounce it as sodder. There is always the L sound.

in the us midwest it's sodder (minnesota, s dakota, nebraska, etc.. colorado? ). dictionary dot com says sod-er (no L).

"Middle English soudour < Old French soudure, soldure, derivative of solder to solder < Latin solidāre to make solid"

but some of these places also slenderize the c in grocer because it's between two vowels so it becomes grosher / groshries and not gro-ser-ees.

I have always pronounced it with the L.

It sounds like Saul + during when I say it.

saulduring

soldering

It's certainly one of those weird words I used to wonder if I was saying it correctly once it left my lips until I started using a soldering iron regularly. I'm still not 100% certain, but I haven't been laughed at yet and that's good enough for me.

Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom? ( besides them being extinct)

Because the P is silent

I am an idiot and thought this post was about the word soldier and was absolutely losing my mind that anyone would pronounce that as sodder...

Let me tell you about the time I went to the hardware store looking for black caulk. I was so embarrassed I ultimately sent my wife to ask an employee if they had any.

No one anywhere in British Isles says that

When it turns out it's sol-der everywhere except where op is from.

I'm British and we say 'solder' with the 'L'.

We also pronounce 'caulk' as 'kawk'.

In English, it's pronounced with the "L".

I think there are some weird foreign dialects that don't pronounce the "L" - like the well known quirky American dialect.

Try to pronounce colonel

Salmon.

Same but caulk

Do you need some Caulk to hold it in place while you solder it?

I got sod but I’m not a solder.

Words like this especially fuck with you when English is not your mother tongue. I started learning English like 15 years ago at this point and i still discover words like this, that i have been mispronouncing. One of the more recent ones is 'Sword'. Why would you not pronounce the W??? I don't think it's completely missing, but it's a very slight suggestion of the presence of a W at most. I've been saying sWord like an idiot all along.

And yes, kolonel also makes me mad. And medieval (seriously, how did you go from that spelling to saying 'mid-evil').

Because the word comes to English through the French Soudure but went back to the Latin solidare for its spelling.

So as with most weird pronunciations in English, it's "because Frenchified Latin"

It’s not? I say it with the L. Everyone else I heard said it says it with the L.

Just treat it the same way I imagine you treat other words like night, phone, and knife.

Salmon still throws me through a loop.

TIL that Aluminum is really Aluminium everywhere else

I pronounced it the way it’s spelt to a couple of engineers, of course I was shamed and ridiculed🙄

“There’s no other case where you just replace an “L” with a “D” for no reason.”

Should

Would

Could

If you expand to just “silent L” there’s more:

Walk

Talk

Chalk

Half

Calf

Salmon

I hereby officially identify as British.

Wait'll you hear how they pronounce lieutenant

This is purely an american english thing, not for the rest of the world

The first time I heard it I thought the guy was saying "sauteeing iron". Couldn't cook a lot of potatoes on one of those!

It’s not unless you want to sound like a fucking idiot.

Yes, I’m aware of how Americans pronounce it.

there's no other case where you just replace an "L" with a "D" for no reason.

That would be wrong.

So, how about should, could, would, half, calf, chalk, talk, walk, folk, yolk, salmon, colonel, palm, and psalm

I'm from the American south and have only pronounced it sol-der.

What is even more bizarre is when a "sodder" person uses it as a verb and pronounces it the other way.

The word "solder" is pronounced "sodder" because British speakers pronounced it as "soder" until the early 19th century. The word comes from the Norman French word souder, which was originally written without an "l". In the 1600s, some grammarians realized that the word's original source was Latin solidare, and began insisting on writing an "l" again.

My nephew and I argue over the word “buoy.” We are in the US.

I say Spoiler

He says Spoiler

Australian-British - we pronounce the L. This is likely going to be an American thing if at all.

In Hiberno-English it’s Sol-der

It isn't

Another is Forte. It's not pronounced Fort-ay. It's actually just Forte like Fort.

And I never got my head wrapped around Colonel, pronounced Kernel.

And whoever invented Wednesday, well, they spelled it wrong.

Solder is pronounced "sodder" by Americans. It is pronounced "solder" (with the L) in many Commonwealth countries eg uk, nz.

As an American. I say I need to solder this connection, do you have any soddering wire? Like present/past tense? Idk. Rethinking my vocabulary right now.

Why is "solder" pronounced "sodder"?

As an Australian I've only ever heard this from people with a speech impediment.

Sol-der is correct

We do pronounce the L. It’s pronounced very similarly to Soldier but more of a D sound than a G in the middle. Unless there’s a weird American pronunciation that’s different from everyone else.

In English we pronounce it as it is spelt. I think it's just an American-English thing.

Check out this poem on pronunciation irregularities:

http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html

I just looked it up on The IPA and its pronounced with the L at least in british english

I’m an American and learned to say solder. The L is just barely there, so most people drop it

How about Brett Favre?! I don’t care who you are, you don’t just get to tell us to rearrange letter in our head so you get the pronunciation you’d like!!

I dunno. I imagine Southerners or Texans say sodder. I say sol-der.

As an american who was always confused by this, I appreciate knowing the way i pronounce it is acceptable in most other countried haha

Solder?! I hardly even know her!

Knife = kinife in canada....

I'm a Brit in the US and... I've just never heard the word said very often at all, to be honest. I'd say it to rhyme with "older", being a Brit.