Are You Correctly Pronouncing Bokeh?

What is Bokeh? How do you pronounce it? Sound it out and you will likely not get it correct. Here is a very short and cute video on how NOT to say “Bokeh,” followed up by the correct pronunciation:

Simply enough, if you are not familiar, Bokeh means fuzzy or out of focus. It is an effect in photography used to optimize the aesthetic quality of the blur.

How NOT to pronounce “Bokeh”:

  1. Bo-Kay
  2. Bo-Kuh

The correct way to pronounce “Bokeh”, is Bo-Ke. Firstly, the ‘bo’ is like bow, as in ‘bow and arrow’, not ‘take a bow’. Now, you’re probably saying wait, what? You just said it is not pronounced Bo-Kay! Isn’t Bo-Ke the same thing? No, it’s not! The “ke” is like the sound at the beginning of the word “kettle”. Ke-ttle. Not “kay”. The “H” is completely silent and serves no purpose, least of all to create a long “eh” at the end. We’re not in Canada anymore, eh?

Now that is cleared up, have fun with your bo-ke!

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