A really stupid question sorry

[gomezladdams]

How do you pronounce bichir.A guy at the lfs brought this up and neither of us knew,cause we both always thought it was spelled birchir.Ive been looking at them online a little lately cause Ive been thinking of adding one to my collection,and saw its usually bichir.

This has come up a few times with other fish,that Ive chatted alot about online,when I finally get in a face to face conversation about fish(rare not alot of fishkeepers up here) I realize I can spell it but have never tried to say the words.

So how do you say bichir?

 

[Euge]

hahaha its not a stupid question. I think there was a thread about this before. I'm gonan try find it for you. I pronounce it bisheer.

 

[AnDr3w]

I say it it Bur-cher. But I'm probably wrong anyway. lol.

 

[CichlidAddict]

biker.

 

[Razman]

i pronounce it like it would be pronounced f it were spelled " bickar"

 

[is300zx]

I pronounce it as "biker" since that's how most LFS in my area pronounce it also. I did use to say it as "bee-sheer" and all I got was a funny look when I try to ask for one at the LFS.

 

[hurricane_redbone]

I pronounce it as "biker" since that's how most LFS in my area pronounce it also. I did use to say it as "bee-sheer" and all I got was a funny look when I try to ask for one at the LFS.

I pronounce it POL-IP-TER-US

that works for me :>

 

[jeffthefish]

What language is it from anyway? That could help in figuring out how to pronounce it properly.

Also, I believe the second "p" in Polypterus is silent: pah-LIT-er-us

 

[gomezladdams]

So no one else so far knows either?

 

[beblondie]

Here ya go

WHY BICHIR?

When Europeans (French) discovered the genus Polypterus in 1809 it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to them as bichirs (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.

The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with bee-sheer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'. Since this would be the name of these fish for
several years until they were scientifically described and put into the proper family it became an accepted common name.

However the correct English pronunciation is up for grabs. Several dictionaries all have their own pronunciation including the below:
bee cher
beech er
bikir
biker
bercheer
bi cher
bir chir is common in England
Also known by the common name lobed fin pike,dinosaur eel.
The name Polypterus : poly=many + pterus=fins and is pronounced po-lyp'-terus.

PRONUNCIATION(from fruitbat/Joe)
In general, a single 'i' at the end of a species name should be pronounced as a long 'i' ('eye'). For example, endlicheri would be pronounced 'end-lick-er-eye' or 'end-lich-er-eye'.
A species name that ends with two 'i's (like weeksii) would be pronounced with the first 'i' sounding like a long 'e' and the second 'i' as a long 'i'....hence - 'weeks-ee-eye'.
The correct pronunciation for Polypterus is 'po lip ter us' with many people putting the accent on the 'lip'.
Putting it all together, Polypterus ansorgii would then be pronounced: 'Po-lip-ter-us an-sorg-ee-eye'. Polypterus delhezi would be pronounced: 'Po-lip-ter-us del-hez-eye'.