Zohran Mamdani and Louvre Among Most Mispronounced Words of 2025
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Language-learning company Babbel and the Captioning Group have released a list of the most commonly mispronounced words in 2025, featuring the names of public figures and topics that have been widely discussed in the U.S. The name of New York City’s first Muslim, African-born, and South Asian mayor, Zohran Mamdani, was frequently mangled, especially with people swapping the “M” and “N” in his last name. The name of the Louvre museum, the scene of a major jewel heist, was also often mispronounced by English speakers who struggled with its soft pronunciation.
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Notable 2025 Mispronunciations: Zohran Mamdani and Louvre
The 2025 headlines made it tough for some Americans to pronounce certain names and words, such as Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s incoming mayor, and the Louvre jewel heist.
Language-learning company Babbel and The Captioning Group released a list of words that caused much pronunciation trouble for public figures.
Notably, Babbel identified the Mamdani’s name, pronounced zoh-RAHN mam-DAH-nee, as often mispronounced.
Furthermore, the Louvre jewel theft led to the mispronunciation of the museum’s name, pronounced LOOV-ruh.
“Adapting to unfamiliar sounds is a common challenge,” said Esteban Touma, a linguist at Babbel.
Other tongue-twisting words in 2025 included ‘acetaminophen’ and ‘Mounjaro.’
‘Acetaminophen’, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is pronounced uh-SEE-tuh-MIH-nuh-fen, yet mispronounced by President Trump.
‘Alex Murdaugh’, a South Carolina attorney sentenced for the 2021 fatal shootings of his family, is pronounced AL-ick MUR-dock.
‘Mounjaro’, a popular diabetes and obesity medication, is pronounced mown-JAHR-OH.
Both ‘Louvre’ and ‘Mounjaro’ were also tricky for UK speakers and landed on Babbel’s UK list.
Babbel and captioners track challenging and emerging pronunciations throughout the year.
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