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What is the correct way to pronounce 'foci' and 'loci'?

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closed as general reference by Will Hunting, MετάEd, Mahnax, Mitch, kiamlaluno Feb 6 '12 at 21:45


Welcome to ELU! english.stackexchange.com/questions/how-to-ask –  MετάEd Feb 1 '12 at 15:25
Dear MetaEd! Surely I thoroughly searched for an answer, I even can use google, and have visited many sites (like forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=390779&langid=18 or answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100513163225AAvNv0A), but unfortunately I could not get an idea in which countries it's pronounced -kaɪ and in which -saɪ, until Kris pointed to Wiktionary. Also I'm sure that this harmless question looks rather silly, but seeing how it collects downvotes I only have to conclude that this community is one of the most hostile ones among SE sites. –  Boris Treukhov Feb 1 '12 at 15:58
Not hostile by any means, but also not a substitute for a standard reference such as a dictionary. This is the reason why basic reference questions get downvoted and closed. Suggest you explain in your question what you already tried, because that is likely to get the experts to pay attention. –  MετάEd Feb 1 '12 at 16:08
Hi Boris, and welcome to ELU. Like MetaEd said, if you could provide more context for your query, you'll get better answers. In particular, for something as seemingly simple as pronunciation, you need to tell us where you've already looked for the answer, and why it was not sufficient. Otherwise, the best answer we can provide is a simple link to the dictionary, which means that this question will probably be closed as "general reference". –  Marthaª Feb 3 '12 at 23:07

1 Answer 1

up vote 2 down vote accepted

[Wiktionary:English pronunciation]

foci Plural form of focus.
Pronunciation [listen]
(UK) IPA: /ˈfəʊ.kaɪ/ SAMPA: /"f@U.kaI/ (US) IPA: /ˈfoʊ.saɪ/

loci Plural form of locus.
Pronunciation [listen]
(RP) /ˈləʊsaɪ/, /"l@UsaI/ (US) enPR: lō'sī, IPA: /ˈloʊsaɪ/, SAMPA: /"loUsaI/

It may be preferable to follow the IPA for pronunciation in general.

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