Do you know how to pronounce crayon? The word crayon is derived from the Latin word creta, meaning “chalk.”
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Introduction
The word “crayon” is derived from the Latin word “creta,” which means “chalk.” The first modern crayons were made from a mixture of clay and pigment, and were first used by artists in the late 18th century. Crayons didn’t become widely available to the general public until the 19th century.
Today, crayons are made from a wax mixture that includes paraffin wax, stearic acid, and pigments. The pigments can be either natural or synthetic. Crayons are available in a wide range of colors, including both traditional colors and fluorescents.
The Correct Pronunciation
Crayon is pronounced “krey-uhn.”
The Incorrect Pronunciations
There are a few ways that people incorrectly pronounce crayon. The most common mispronunciations are “kray-ahn” and “krah-ahn.” While these might be the most common, they are both incorrect. The correct pronunciation is actually “krah-en.”
The Origin of the Word
The word “crayon” first appeared in print in 1795. It comes from the French word “craie,” meaning “chalk.” The word “crayon” originally referred to a thin stick of chalk used for Drawing. In 1802, the meaning of the word was broadened to include colored pencils. The term “wax crayon” was first used in 1828.
Why It’s Important to Pronounce Words Correctly
In 2002, a group of researchers from MIT published a paper in the journal Cognition showing that when people hear a word pronounced incorrectly, it takes them longer to recognize the word and process its meaning. This finding has been replicated in several other studies, and it makes sense when you think about it: If you’ve never heard a word pronounced correctly before, your brain has to do a lot of work to figure out what it means.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should go around correcting everyone’s pronunciation — that would be rude. But it does mean that you should make an effort to pronounce words correctly yourself, both for the benefit of your own brain and for the benefit of the people around you.
So how do you pronounce crayon? The answer is simple: kray-ahn. The “cray” part rhymes with “pray,” and the “ahn” part is pronounced like the “on” in “long.”