Noir pronunciation?

Question

can someone tell me how to pronouce noir? It's french for black.

Answer 1

add a hard "r" at the end - it's from the back of the throat - but otherwise everyone else's suggestions sound good.

nwahr... though i can't spell it, really.

Answer 2

there's the english word noir (as in film noir, bête noir, etc.), which is pronounced with a nw consonant pair and then the sound of the english word "are" ("are you going to the store?").

the french word noir is pronounced with the same nw consonant pair, then the vowel sound "a" as in "father", and then the french 'r' sound.

the french 'r' sound is nothing like the english 'r' sound. it's pronounced in the throat. it's similar to the spanish 'j' sound (in mexican spanish, at least; i'm not familiar with many other dialects). it's also similar to the russian 'х' sound.

for better instructions, though, go to about.com: http://french.about.com/library/pronunciation/bl-pronunciation-r.htm . there are audio files and step-by-step instructions for pronouncing the sound.

Answer 3

I'm pissed! It's so hard to show people how to pronounce words in Y!A because most don't understand the IPA system. The first bit sounds like 'nwa' with a short 'a' and then you follow it with something that only francophones can do well - an 'a' followed by a retroflex 'r'. It would be much simpler to speak to you . . .

Don't use an English 'ah' sound - use the 'a' in English (not US) 'cat.'

Oh, I give up.

Answer 4

maximum wines have french or italian names. flow to a bookshop and get dictionaries for French and Italian and examine the pronunciation guides. Chablis= sha-blee Sauternes= so-turn Petit Syrah= petee surrah Pinot Noir= pee be responsive to nwar Pinot Grigio=pee be responsive to gree-zhee-oh Cabernet =Cab-er-nay Cabernet Sauvignon= cab-er-nay -stitch-vin-yon etc.

Answer 5

It's kind of like "nwar"

Answer 6

n(uh)-wah but nicely blended into one syllable.

Answer 7

nuar (its one syllable or whatever)

Answer 8

nuh-wah

Answer 9

nu-ar

Answer 10

N-WAR