Why exactly do the British say lieutenant as ''leftenant''? | Notes and Queries (2023)

Why exactly do the British say lieutenant as 'leftenant'?

Jeff Rushton, London UK

• Well, how def yef say leftenant?

  Mark Dallas, London UK

• The word was originally two Latin terms, "locum" meaning in place of, and "teneris" meaning holding, together the phrase applied to anyone "holding in place of" someone else. Over time the word "locum" evolved into the French word "lieu", which is pronounced in French as it is spelled. It is possible that when the English heard the French pronounce the compound word lieutenant, they perceived a slurring which they heard as a "v" or "f" sound between the first and second syllables. Most English speaking nations, with the exception of the United States, still pronounce the word as though there is an "f" in it.

  Richard Thompson, Allerod Denmark

• The British didn't much like the French at one time...and anglicised words that my be mistaken as french. Like Beauchamp Square, De Beauvoir Town.

  Albert, Derby UK

• Because it's the correct pronunciation.

  Nomad, London England

• I think it's pronounced with an "f" sound (spelled v) in Russian as well. Maybe Russian and British English got the word through German, which regularly changes the 'u/w' sound to the 'v' sound; whereas we Americans took the pronunciation directly from French? ('v' naturally becomes a voiceless 'f' in assimilation to the following 't' in many languages.)

  Lars, Dallas, USA

• The Norman French phrase 'lieutenant' may have predated the Latin rendering 'locum tenens'. The earliest examples in OED are all from Scotland, and it seems even then that the "Lefftenant" pronunciation was being used (Barbour's "Bruce" has "luftenand" in the mid 14th century). Moreoever an Old French rending of lieu was "luef". The British pronunciation was still used in the USA in 1793 but had almost died out except in military circles by 1893. One could explain this the influence of non-British immigrants applying standard French pronunciation to a word with apparently obvious French origins.

  Ross Turner, St Monans Fife

• Way back in the evolution of English as a language, the letters 'V' and 'U' were basically the same. ‘Lieutenant’ could have been spelled ‘Lievtenant' and the pronunciation might just have stuck.

  Charles Peters, Front Royal, US

• The Brits are weird

  jon, cambria United States

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• Back in the 1800's Leutenant Mark Lefting was wounded during a battle, his men presumed him to be dead and left him there when they could not find him. One of his wounds was a stab in the mouth which partially mangled his tongue, when he arrived at camp the next day he went to the colonels office and the Colonel asked him his name, because of his wound he pronounced it 'leftenant' and because of the relation to his name 'lefting' his pronunciation of 'leutenant' and the fact that he was left on the battlefield, that battalion changed the traditional word 'leutenant' to 'leftenant' I suppose after the story was spread it just kind of stuck

  Calum Blake, Burntisland Scotland

• Websters dictionary only lists Lieutenant. Leftenant isn't listed. I would image in the US we say loo-tenant because of how it's spelled..According to websters, Lieu is pronouced, loo.

  Rob L, Baltimore USA

• In British slang, of which there is a great deal, the word loo refers to a toilet. I assume they do not want to give the impression that a leftenant is a resident of a toilet as in loo-tenant.

  Sean Eriswell, Broomfield Colorado

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• You make a good point about the whole 'loo' part of it.

  Matt Amsden, North Las Vegas, USA

• Because it's our language, and we can say it any way we like. And what is it with these Americans, who speak of British English and a British version - hello!! It's English - our language. You might want to rule the world from Washington - but it's still English. About time y'all brushed up on your Spanish!!

  Peter Charles, London, England

• My fellow Brit's cynical intolerance for Americans makes me ashamed to be British. No response from any American on this page has earned such a bitter rebuke. Have some class.

  William Franklin, Brighton, UK

• This little story offers another simple explanation of the inserted "F" in the pronunciation. Many years ago as a student I took a summer job working in my local greengrocers shop.Towards the end of a busy day, a hatchet-faced lady came in and after looking around, she looked down her nose and said “I’d like a savoy cabbage please.”. I replied, ”I’m sorry madam but we’ve run out of cabbage today, would you like a cauliflower?” The lady huffed and puffed and said “But I want a savoy cabbage”. I tried to sound sympathetic and replied, “I am sorry, its been a very busy day and we have no cabbage, would you like to try some broccoli” Once again the lady huffed and puffed and repeated now in a very cross tone that suggested the shortage was my fault, “I said I wanted a savoy cabbage”. “I am sorry madam” I responded, again trying to be helpful, “what about some spinach or chard ?” Now the lady became very angry and almost spat out the words, slowly and meanly…”I told you I wanted a savoy S….A….V…O….Y cabbage you idiot”. I looked at her carefully, “Madam, I told you we have no ..C…A…B…B…A…F…G….E cabbage !” She glared at me “ You idiot, there’s no F in cabbage…!” I replied very slowly, “Madam, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for the past five minutes!”

  Tony Hastings, London, UK

• Just want to clarify, Americans speak proper English, not the British. English is a rhotic language. At the time of the American Revolution, everyone spoke English like Americans do today. After the American Revolution, in order to differentiate themselves and pretend to be of higher class, the British began incorrectly pronouncing their R's. Now, British English is a non-rhotic language, like Boston English, which traditional English is NOT.

  Ben, Denver USA

• Personally, I think that regardless of the tradition, the simple lack of a letter F should mean that you don't pronounce it "left-tenant". It makes you sound brain damaged.

  Steve, Hamilton Canada

• @benWhat about "Aluminum" as opposed to the original British English "Aluminium"?, "jelly" as opposed to "jam", "color" not "colour", "gray" instead of "grey"? I think you'll find that American English is a simplified and bastardised (once again, "s" not "z") version of British English. Any changes to the English language in America have been made by US Citizens spelling the language phonetically instead of how it was originally written and pronounced.In the 1700s an American English dictionary was written by a man named Noah Webster. He purposely spelt words differently in a bid to separate the newly independent Americans from the English.To say that the British English don't speak true English is just pure ignorance. The language was created here and continues to be spoken by the vast majority of English people. The only deviations you will find are regional accents, which I'm sure you'll also find in the American English language.I come from a military family and have been raised pronouncing Lieutenant as Leftenant. I have never been able to find the reason for the spelling/pronunciation difference, but I would imagine in hundreds of years of military history, there have been more than a few words spelled or spoken differently. The most prevalent opinion seems to be down to the Roman Latin use of the letter "V" in place of a "U".

  Amanda, Manchester England

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• On the grey/gray matter, it all depends on my mood, the a and the e are interchangeable, and I understand the phonetic spelling of how we write in the US, like manoeuvre/maneuver,but what I don't understand is how there is this large difference in pronunciation of our words, seeing as we stemmed off of you, the should still be accents that reflect where our accents came from, because accents don't change overnight, and they sure as hell don't deviate from themselves.Fun Fact: American english, and all of it's accents is named general american...

  Bryan, St Paul United Sates

• Oh, for goodness sake: grow up, will you? (Not all of you, some of you had some insightful comments above; but the anally retentive chauvinists above know who they are). Listen to Mr Fry here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY and go away feeling very ashamed of yourselves.

  Dario, Icod Spain

• I really like that "u"/"v" explanation! I have some 18th Century New England ancestors who were named "Zerviah, although much of the time the name shows up as "Zeruiah" (which is virtually impossible to pronounce). IMHO, All languages have been evolving for thousands of years...think vowel shift! That said, it sounds downright silly to pronounce "lieu" as "left," but if Brits like it that way, it's fine with me. I defer to your right to say it anyway you please. BUT, that doesn't mean the rest of us are ignorant dolts.Lest you think I'm not a traditionalist re: grammar, I have always said "Am I not?" instead of "Aren't I?" It sure engenders some puzzled looks, but they are often followed by an "ah-ha" nod. ;-)

  Ann McReynolds, Saint Louis MO USA

• Accents in the American South, especially in coastal places like Mobile and Charleston, can still resemble English English quite a bit. Appalachian accents are much twangier, but some have posited that Elizabethan English sounded a lot like Appalachian speak. I have to say though, that dude that tried to say that British people used to speak like Americans and that they purposely changed their accents out of jingoism is pretty much a huge moron, lol. He must be a right-winger trying to create a false historical reality. The British at the time were far more concerned with a dude named Napoleon than they were with us. We stung the pride of the Royal Navy more than anything. Pride which they soon recovered during the Napoleonic conflict. Personally, I like the Latin u/v explanation. Also, early Americans like Washington were heavily influenced French military theory, and we were pretty close to them back then...not that we aren't now. That could have something to do with it. I mean if Lafayette was walkin' around at Valley Forge sayin Looo-tenant to a bunch of rebellious farmers, I could see that catching on.

  David, Birmingham USA

• According to military customs, a lower ranking soldier walks on the left side of a senior officer. This courtesy developed when swords were still used on the battle field. The lower ranked soldier on the "left" protected the senior officers left side. Therefore, the term leftenant developed.

  Debbie, Manchester USA

• Because that's what it should be called. Americans changed it to fit their own odd version of a perfect language.

  Sid, Saffron Walden England

• Nothing like a bunch of egos giving their opinions ... Where's that "Hot for Words" Russian sweetheart when you need her ???

  W Poehlmann III, Houston, Texas Texas

• I think this will all be academic soon as widespread familiarisation with American English via movies and TV is evolving English usage in many ways. I, personally, have always pronounced it as lieu - tenant - because it simply makes sense to say it this way. I think a lot of younger people in the UK also do so. Left - tenant will eventually become archaic usage here. Language changes are speeding up as global communication smooths out the differences. Regional accents will always create some anomalies but those cases where there is an obvious sense in pronouncing as spelt - such as lieutenant - will disappear.

  Jenny, Abergele Wales

• In medieval times during a battle The Lord of the manor was in the middle, the head knight on the right and the head tenant was on the left. As the head tenant became richer he was able to pay for a knight to stand in lieu of him. Thereafter his designate was known as the "leftenant"

  Michael T. Prosser, Campbell River BC. Canada

• I came here looking for an answer. Instead, I found 20 or so different answers!Still puzzled...

  Peggy, Anchorage, Alaska USA

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• As said before, I think it was to do with the lack of standardised spelling and pronunciation with U and V. I also think that leftenant was the English pronunciation until the American Revolution, when the Americans began to pronounce it "loo-tenant" either to distinguish themselves from the British or to better communicate with their French allies.

  Kate, Doncaster UK

• The answer is that it was the original pronunciation. However, I regret to inform you that I am not commenting to answer... I am commenting to apologize to the Brits on behalf of the Americans who are NOT narrow-minded and appreciate other cultures. I'm sorry for some of the rude comments produced by some of the Americans' answers. We're not all narrow-minded fools. I think language is a part of culture, and I respect your culture and find your way of speaking and pronunciation beautiful.

  Aisha, Raleigh USA

• I was curious why it is pronounced that way by the British. I don't understand all the nasty comments. I'm glad I know now why it's pronounced that way and I thank you for the information. I like all different accents from any country - it's interesting to me. This is 2013. Don't you think it's time to put away our swords, or in this case, hateful words?

  Tammy, Pittsburgh, US

• I think the people addressing the old U and V issue are on the right track, however I think a better explanation is that in old french, lieu was spelled luef. The word was still pronounced loo.This would suggest that the word was originally French, and the leftenant pronunciation is down to some poor transliteration during the middle ages.

  Jason, Las Vegas, US

• I do enjoy the battle between the Americans and the British as to which is "proper" English". There are people from the States that make me cringe when I hear them speak, as I am sure there are people from the UK that make people native to that country cringe. I speak no more like a hick than Tony Blair speaks like Russell Brand. With that said, my best assumption would be the translation from French is the most likely reason for the difference in pronunciations. P.S. To the man referencing Websters English dictionary, do yourself a favor and pick up an Oxford English Dictionary. :)

  Mike, Washington DC, US

• English is a wonderful language with elastic properties and influences from Nordic, Germanic and Arabic languages, Latin and Greek (among others) which allow for great expression of things technical, poetic, spiritual and esoteric. Thank the British for our language and New York, else we would be speaking Dutch in New Amsterdam (or however the Dutch spell it).

  Mat, Parma U.S.

• Actually, David from Birmingham, you're flat wrong about Ben from Denver being a moron because he asserted that British people used to speak like Americans. He's actually correct. Here's a link to an article that explains the whole thing: http://mentalfloss.com/article/29761/when-did-americans-lose-their-british-accents The idea that the change in pronunciation is due to nationalist jingoism is somewhat misguided - as it was more of a way for the educated upper class to distance themselves from the uneducated poor, but the fact that they sounded "posher" than their colonial cousins (with whom they had just engaged in TWO bloody wars) definitely served to sweeten the pot. As to the original "leftenent" issue, the commonly accepted explanation is the u/v Old French connection, however, even though it is the accepted explanation, there seems to be some uncertainty as to the truth of this theory. It is funny that you mentioned the way some American Southerners/Appalachians sound like they are speaking Elizabethan English. Elizabethan pronunciation was rhotic (like American English) and actually sounds much closer to Northern Irish or Cornish than American Southern. For a great example of Elizabethan Pronunciation (which, by the by, was used over 200 years BEFORE the RP non-rhotic pronunciation became popular) check out this youtube link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s

  Ian, New York USA

• Just three things :-1/ In the Royal Navy it is prunounced Lootenant. 2/ What is British English? 3/ It is a good job Ben from Denver isn't from Dover.

  Baz, Whitley Bay England

• 2. (lf-tnnt) A commissioned officer in the British and Canadian navies ranking just below a lieutenant commander.- from freedictionary.com

  Nicole H, Reading, MA USA

• I don't really know but I love the way the British pronounce certain words, such as schedule, it sounds so much more proper.

  Nanette Y. Mitchell, Fredericksburg, US

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• Seems Ben was right on the Revolutionary War beint the dividing point of British and American pronunciation, but IMO, it's pronounced with the F or V sound because of the U/V being interchangable during that time. Here's a link to the Revolutionary War Theory: http://www.livescience.com/33652-americans-brits-accents.html

  P Melrose, Swansboro, US

• Thanks to all the gracious people who understand the value of discourse. If we cannot ask questions of each, we cannot learn from each other.

  Ann, Los Angeles USA

• I like the guy's answer who referred to vowel shift -- English really had its most fundamemtal changes via the Celts (who were likely influenced by Phoenician sailors/explorers); see John McWhorter's "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue".The French don't swap v & u, but their Latin Roman ancestors did; as do the Semites (Phoenicians &/or Hebrews).I think the concept of a person holding place on the left side of his commanding officer has merit; thus the "left" came into it, but only orally.English's beauty/zaniness comes from how Brits spell the words as they came to us -- it's a sort of mini-etymology in every word -- simplifying it is cheating & lazy. Colour has a u to credit the path via the French; true, the original Latin did not have a u, but we didn't get it directly from Rome -- we got it from France!& Americans need to stop hating on the French -- without Benny Franklin's requesting help from King Louis in 1775, there would be no USA.& don't hate on the British/English either -- without them you'd not exist either, & the war of 1776 is long over.

  George Pope, Richmond Canada

• Why does everyone say Colonel as "Kernel" or Coxswain as "Koksin"? How Language is spoken and how it is written is constantly evolving. The reason why people from the commonwealth say "lef-tenant" can probably be attributed to the U being misread as a V during the middle ages, which in turn developed into and F sound. Unlike other words that have been standardised to read more phonetically (especially true in the United States), military terms have tended to retain their peculiarities out of a desire to maintain traditions. As for the Rhotic accents (i.e. pronouncing the R in Water), it should be noted that their decline in England is a rather recent phenomenon. Here's a map of Rhotic accents in the 1950's: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/RhoticEngland.png , but this is what it looks like now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RhoticEngland2.png .

  Elijah, London UK

• So we have the profound and highly informative answer from an American, he says: "The Brits are weird'. Well thanks for that gem, Einstein. Haven't you got a chat show you can go off and 'whoop woo' at or something?

  Tel McCormack, Rochdale, UK

• I was just curious but all of the above was both enlightening and entertaining. Thank you.

  KM, Bastrop USA

• Bryan from ST Pauls says, 'off of'. Oh dear Bryan, don't you mean 'off'. 'Off of' is completely and gramatically very incorrect. Of means to show ownership.

  Peter, Auckland, New Zealand

• But I will offer that an American film viewed with subtitles does bring more symmetry than would one in the Queen's. More of an observation than fact.

  A.J., Queens, NYC, US

• WOW! There are so many opinions that contradict each other. Some contributors have merely regurgitated what they've heard as rumors or old-wives' tales. I'm going to look at a credible site now.

  Lee, Laie, Hawaii USA

• Left vs lieu. Let's just promote them all to captain and be done with it! English is called English because it evolved from England - that's about as far as we can go with nationalist claims to the language. As a language it is spoken throughout the world, which helps everyone. There are differences in the way it is spelt and spoken but ultimately isn't it great that so many people can share a common language and so be able to develop a common understanding.

  GB, Oxford, UK

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