From the election of Zohran Mamdani to a Parisian jewel heist, language-learning company Babbel and closed-captioning company The Captioning Group have compiled some of 2025’s most mispronounced words.
Keeping up with this year's news has left many struggling with pronunciations.
The language-learning company Babbel and closed-captioning company The Captioning Group has released a list of the words that American news anchors, politicians and other public figures struggled with the most this year.
One of the top mangled names was that of Zohran Mamdani, New York City's incoming mayor. When he takes office in January, the 34-year-old will become the city’s first Muslim mayor, first born in Africa and first of South Asian heritage.
Babbel said his name - which should be pronounced "zoh-RAHN mam-DAH-nee" - was most commonly mispronounced when people swapped the “M” and “N” in his last name.
Another common mispronunciation this year came following the theft of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre museum in October. The headline-grabbing event had many people mispronouncing the name of the world’s most-visited museum, with Babbel reminding everyone that the correct pronunciation is "LOOV-ruh", with a very soft pronunciation on the “ruh”.
Other words and names on this year’s list include:
- Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol (correctly pronounced "uh-SEE-tuh-MIH-nuh-fen"), which Donald Trump mispronounced as he implored pregnant women to avoid taking the painkiller - despite no evidence to any links with autism.
- Mounjaro (pronounced "mown-JAHR-OH"), which is part of a wave of diabetes and obesity medications that soared in popularity among those wishing to lose weight the quick way.
- Storm Éowyn ("ay-OH-win", not "air-wyn"), which battered Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland in January.
- Labubu ("luh–BOO–boo" - not "la-bu-bu"), the cult collectible toy that drove everyone into a collective frenzy this year.
- Alexander Skarsgård ("skarz–GORD") - so now you know how not to insult the Swedish star when you meet him.
And speaking of actors, in a pronunciation surprise this year, we learned that we’ve been butchering Denzel Washington’s name all these years. Washington old late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel that he was named after his father, and their first names are actually pronounced "DEN-zul" – not "Den-ZELLE".
So, how many have you been saying correctly?
