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I hear "dayta" more often, but what's the correct pronunciation?

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    Perhaps the more interesting question is "How was data originally pronounced?". According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the term first appeared in 1946, and was used early on in 1956 in the Data Processing Industry. According to a data processing industrialist, the term has been pronounced "day-ta" in his field for as long as he can remember.
    – mareoraft
    Commented Sep 2, 2014 at 6:03
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    There is no such thing as a single "correct" pronunciation. If you want to ask about specific dialects that's one thing, but as it is now, this turns the answers into a popularity contest.
    – curiousdannii
    Commented Jul 31, 2015 at 0:28
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    Let's call the whole thing off!
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 23:32
  • I don't agree with the dialect comment above. The word had an origin, and that was the correct pronunciation. How we pronounce the word generations later doesn't make it correct.
    – user1182988
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 14:43
  • @mareoraft As a count noun "data" s first recorded in 1645. As a mass noun - 1702.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Nov 17, 2020 at 22:40

9 Answers 9

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Wiktionary marks:

  • /ˈdeɪtə/ as UK, US
  • /ˈdætə/ as US
  • /ˈdɑːtə/ as Australia, UK formal

Merriam-Webster lists all three pronunciations, and provides a sound file for /ˈdeɪtə/.

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    This sounds right to me. There's nothing more formal about the dahta pronunciation though. It's a dialectical, even personal matter.
    – Noldorin
    Commented Jan 26, 2011 at 23:49
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    I think the t in 2 and 3 should be a d!
    – reinierpost
    Commented Apr 19, 2012 at 17:27
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    What's the android's name on Star Trek? Say it with me...Day-ta. I rest my case.
    – user23235
    Commented Jul 7, 2012 at 7:25
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    @Greg That may be how the crew of the Enterprise pronounces the name of their droid, but that's flimsy evidence to rest a case on. NOAD lists two pronunciations; moreover, Macmillan's American edition lists one, while their British edition lists a different one. M-W lists three ways to say the word, presumably all valid.
    – J.R.
    Commented Jul 7, 2012 at 17:21
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    @reinierpost What you are calling a ‘d’ is phonologically a simple flap, written as [ɾ] to represent that particular allophone of phonemic /t/. I don’t think you (should?) usually write out the allophone if you are using slashes for a broad phonemic transcription the way you would when using square brackets for a (comparatively) narrow phonetic transcription.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Jul 7, 2012 at 20:09
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There's no such thing as "correct" pronunciation.

Now, to answer your question, here's what LPD3 says on this (Wells 2008):

Preference polls

BrE:

ˈdeɪtə 92%

ˈdɑːtə 6%

ˈdætə 2%

AmE:

ˈdeɪțə 64%

ˈdæțə 35%

ˈdɑːțə 1%

NB: ț stands for the (voiced) alveolar tap (flap) here. Wells uses a slightly different symbol, not the usual IPA one.

A historical perspective:

The eleventh edition of Everyman's Pronouncing Dictionary by Daniel Jones (the 1960 reprint) gives ˈdeitə as the primary variant for British English, whereas dɑːtə is given in brackets, which means, in Jones' notation, the less frequent form that is still in current use.

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    Great answer! Note that these preferences are just for the first vowel; I don't believe that 100% of Americans use alveolar taps (although indeed the vast majority do).
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Jul 8, 2012 at 20:41
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    No such thing as correct pronunciation! Huh! How 'bout that?
    – John
    Commented Feb 6, 2020 at 16:29
  • Actually, in the UK I most often hear "day2a" where 2 stands for a glottal stop. (Sorry no IPA keyboard :-)
    – Oskar Limka
    Commented Feb 13, 2021 at 11:05
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That depends on which country you live in and what your definition of "correct" is. The US and Australia, for example, predominantly use "dayta" but New Zealanders say "dahta".

In short, either is correct but different countries' cultures have different norms.

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    And some people say dæta, rhyming it with how a Boston native would pronounce "flatter". :)
    – Robusto
    Commented Jan 26, 2011 at 19:14
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    This is incorrect. Day-ta is far more common in Britain.
    – user3444
    Commented Jan 26, 2011 at 19:36
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    In fact, thinking about it, I hear American's on TV say 'datta' and 'dahta' far more often than 'day-ta'.
    – user3444
    Commented Jan 26, 2011 at 19:43
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    @ElendilTheTall is correct. We Brits usually say "day-ta". (Though there is a notable minority that says "dahta".)
    – Noldorin
    Commented Jan 26, 2011 at 23:48
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    @Noldorin: It's particularly common in the old-style computing/programming world, with a lot of people self-taught at home, never hearing the words aloud; data sometimes falls in to this category.
    – Orbling
    Commented Jan 27, 2011 at 18:50
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I vaguely remember being told that day-ta was the correct pronunciation, and that was because there was a vowel (the second 'a') following the consonant (the 't'). Now whether or not that actually applies, someone please comment because I'd love to know if I was given a load of hogwash there.

Personal experience, I find that I hear and use day-ta more than dah-ta. It is similar to the different ways that 'SQL' is pronounced among us techies - some spell it out, and some pronounce it as "sequel". Thinking about it, I find that when it is the word "data" all by itself, I use day-ta, but when it is part of another word ("database", for example) I tend to use dah-ta instead. Again, not sure if this is something that I just happened to have picked up over the years or if it is even correct. Anyone else notice the different pronunciation in situations like this?

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    The rule you mention is generally true for loanwords from Latin that end in "a" and have stress on the second-to-last syllable (such as "arcana"), but most people pronounce a few words irregularly. For example, I've never heard anyone say "DRAY-ma" for "drama." Many people also use a short vowel /æ/ or broad vowel /ɑː/ in one or more of "data," "strata," and "errata."
    – herisson
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 21:01
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    I just thought of another exception aside from "drama": "panorama," which seems to be generally pronounced with /ɑː/ by British English speakers and with /æ/ by American English speakers, but never with /eɪ/.
    – herisson
    Commented Jun 24, 2016 at 5:29
  • Have to love the random drive-by down vote on a post that's over 5 years old. Apparently someone does not agree with me, but cannot bother to articulate why.
    – Will
    Commented Sep 23, 2016 at 0:00
  • I pronounce the first A in caveat as a long A and I can cite a dictionary that has only this pronunciation for the word. But at least in Southwest Virginia this pronunciation is rarely used.
    – Airymouse
    Commented Nov 29, 2016 at 21:01
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This question reminds me of the film Gravity. Watch the first five minutes here. On 1:55 you can hear "Houston" (Ed Harris) saying "day-ta"; on 4:47 Dr. Stone (Sandra Bullock) says "Dah-ta", only to be answered "we are not receiving any 'day-ta'".

Now, Ed Harris was born in New Jersey and Sandra Bullock is from Virginia, but raised in Nuremberg. It seems that the correct pronunciation of "data" is a matter of geography and not so much of grammar.

Well, I know this is not the most comprehensive study, but I wanted to share an interesting case of 'day-ta' vs. 'dah-ta'.

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It's DAY-ta on Star Trek, which is perhaps the ultimate reference. :-) I cannot imagine Patrick Stewart saying "Dah-ta."

P. S. An editorial reminder (as mentioned earlier) that data is plural; e.g., "the data are clear" not "the data is clear." Feel free to edit this answer for references to data being either plural or singular in usage. Let's keep it humorous, if possible.

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  • I can, however, imagine him saying 'Ta-dah'. :)
    – Tim Baverstock
    Commented Mar 8 at 19:02
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The NOAD reports the pronunciation as /ˈdædə/ /ˈdeɪdə/, using the American English IPA; using the British English IPA, the pronunciation is /ˈdeɪtə/.

The difference between /ˈdeɪdə/ and /ˈdeɪtə/ is the same difference between /ˈɪdəli/ and /ˈɪtəli/ (the pronunciation for Italy).

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    Are you sure NOAD lists ˈdædə/? You might confuse flap "t" with "d"
    – Bogdan Lataianu
    Commented Sep 17, 2011 at 14:01
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    Yes, I am sure.
    – avpaderno
    Commented Sep 17, 2011 at 14:42
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    The NOAD uses "d" for "flap t" in its pronunciation symbols. I don't know of any good justification for this; /d/ and /t/ are perceived as different phonemes in American English, even in cases where they are both replaced by a flap.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Jul 7, 2012 at 13:02
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In the City of London: ˈdeɪtə.

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  • For what it's worth, my personal choices for "data" and "datum" would be /da-tah/ (similar to matta in "Whassa matta wit you?" as Bugs Bunny might say) and /dadum/ (similar to madam).
    – tautophile
    Commented Jul 6, 2018 at 18:17
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Am I the only person who thinks that the first vowel in "dah-ta" would be pronounced the same as the first syllable in "follow" rather than the first syllable in "batter"?

I don't know how to write that out phonetically, but "dah-ta", to me, would be pronounced "dahh-tahh".

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  • That would be the variant with /ɑː/ mentioned in RegDwigнt's and Alex B.'s answer.
    – herisson
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 20:53
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    So, exactly the reverse (syllabically) of "ta-da!" ? I am curious as to why this seems like it should be correct.
    – Hellion
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 20:57

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