Serif: analysis
I have no idea why it took me so long to analyze this poll (a stressful spring semester, moving, and a new job probably contributed). Serif 'thin line finishing off a stroke of a letter' is a fascinating word that reflects a quite different category of pronunciation variability than we've seen in the past entries in this series.
Most people who consider the matter a little bit probably think of serif as a word of French derivation. There aren't many English words that end in -if, and those that do are largely French loanwords: motif, aperitif, and perhaps massif are all 19th-century loans as part of the massive influx of high-culture French terms into English, and -if is pronounced /if/ in all these cases. The pronunciation /ɪf/ (like plain old if) normally requires the spelling -iff: cliff, whiff, skiff, mastiff, sheriff, tariff, etc. These words were often once spelled with only one f in Old French or Middle English, but acquired the second f as English orthography regularized in the early modern period. Coif and waif, both much older borrowings from Old French, are somewhat different because -if is not preceded by a vowel, so the pronunciation is different. So it would be natural to think that serif is a recent French borrowing, on this model.
Moreover, the word today is very frequently found in the context of the phrase sans-serif (with or without hyphen), to indicate a typeface that lacks serifs. This is clearly the French word sans 'without', and so it would be natural to assume that 'sans serif' is a French phrase. I didn't ask this question, but most people pronounce 'sans' as /sæn/ although I've also heard /sã/. And finally, most people just don't have much opportunity to say serif or sans serif; because it's mostly used in typography, today you're most likely to see it on a computer screen.
You will already have guessed that in fact, serif is not a French word (although it is a 19th century borrowing, not an older word). While the OED unhelpfully gives its origin as 'obscure', several etymological dictionaries propose that it may have been borrowed from Dutch schreef 'line, stroke' and thus may be cognate with German schreiben 'to write'. This makes sense from a historical perspective (the connection between Dutch and English printers has historically been strong) and an etymological one. The earliest attested spellings (1827-1841) are quite varied: ceriph, syrif, ceref, etc., which tells us, at least, that an early-nineteenth century origin is right, but also suggests that the pronunciation at that time was ['sɛɹəf] 'SEHR-riff', not [sə'ɹif] 'suh-REEF'. And indeed, I have searched far and wide and have found no dictionaries that list the pseudo-French [sə'ɹif] as an alternative, even within the context of the phrase 'sans-serif', where you might expect to find it.
Our poll results are interesting. While nearly three-quarters of you pronounce the word in the standardly accepted way, 20% of you use the pseudo-French variant at least occasionally. Notably, our three or four native francophone respondents (according to the ongoing dialect survey) all chose the standard, not the pseudo-French [sə'ɹif]. But equally, most of my American respondents chose the standard; whether that's because they don't associate -if words with French, or because they do so but think that it has become anglicized/Americanized, I don't know. By far the majority of people choosing the pseudo-French variant are native speakers of Canadian or British English who have been exposed to some French (often 'school French') but are not native speakers; most are well-educated. A number of 'Other' respondents further clarified that while they say ['sɛɹəf] when the word is used alone, in the phrase sans serif they French it up to [sə'ɹif]. A few others specified a hybrid: they stress the second syllable, as one would do with a French loanword, but the vowel in the second syllable is the near-close near-front vowel /ɪ/ as in cliff, not /i/ as in reef.
So what we have here is a particularly interesting pronunciation variant that has emerged through the visual association of the orthography -if with French coupled with its association with the obvious loanword sans, but affects only those who know just enough French to get it wrong. Of course, a pronunciation used by well-educated people can eventually trickle down, particularly if some sort of typographic perfect storm were to strike in the media, exposing people to the word en masse. And a variant used by 20% of the populace doesn't really qualify as a speech error, and I wouldn't at all be surprised to see it appear in some dictionaries in the future, particularly those of a descriptivist bent.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the famous 1977 April Fools' Day hoax of the island nation of San Seriffe, from the Guardian. One or two commenters mentioned its existence, but I don't think it actually influenced anyone's pronunciation. While there are no well-known English words that end in -iffe, the parallel with surnames like Wycliffe might suggest a standard 'English' pronunciation, not the pseudo-French.
Last 10 pronunciation polls | All previous polls | Pronunciation polls with analytical essays | Dialect survey
Most people who consider the matter a little bit probably think of serif as a word of French derivation. There aren't many English words that end in -if, and those that do are largely French loanwords: motif, aperitif, and perhaps massif are all 19th-century loans as part of the massive influx of high-culture French terms into English, and -if is pronounced /if/ in all these cases. The pronunciation /ɪf/ (like plain old if) normally requires the spelling -iff: cliff, whiff, skiff, mastiff, sheriff, tariff, etc. These words were often once spelled with only one f in Old French or Middle English, but acquired the second f as English orthography regularized in the early modern period. Coif and waif, both much older borrowings from Old French, are somewhat different because -if is not preceded by a vowel, so the pronunciation is different. So it would be natural to think that serif is a recent French borrowing, on this model.
Moreover, the word today is very frequently found in the context of the phrase sans-serif (with or without hyphen), to indicate a typeface that lacks serifs. This is clearly the French word sans 'without', and so it would be natural to assume that 'sans serif' is a French phrase. I didn't ask this question, but most people pronounce 'sans' as /sæn/ although I've also heard /sã/. And finally, most people just don't have much opportunity to say serif or sans serif; because it's mostly used in typography, today you're most likely to see it on a computer screen.
You will already have guessed that in fact, serif is not a French word (although it is a 19th century borrowing, not an older word). While the OED unhelpfully gives its origin as 'obscure', several etymological dictionaries propose that it may have been borrowed from Dutch schreef 'line, stroke' and thus may be cognate with German schreiben 'to write'. This makes sense from a historical perspective (the connection between Dutch and English printers has historically been strong) and an etymological one. The earliest attested spellings (1827-1841) are quite varied: ceriph, syrif, ceref, etc., which tells us, at least, that an early-nineteenth century origin is right, but also suggests that the pronunciation at that time was ['sɛɹəf] 'SEHR-riff', not [sə'ɹif] 'suh-REEF'. And indeed, I have searched far and wide and have found no dictionaries that list the pseudo-French [sə'ɹif] as an alternative, even within the context of the phrase 'sans-serif', where you might expect to find it.
Our poll results are interesting. While nearly three-quarters of you pronounce the word in the standardly accepted way, 20% of you use the pseudo-French variant at least occasionally. Notably, our three or four native francophone respondents (according to the ongoing dialect survey) all chose the standard, not the pseudo-French [sə'ɹif]. But equally, most of my American respondents chose the standard; whether that's because they don't associate -if words with French, or because they do so but think that it has become anglicized/Americanized, I don't know. By far the majority of people choosing the pseudo-French variant are native speakers of Canadian or British English who have been exposed to some French (often 'school French') but are not native speakers; most are well-educated. A number of 'Other' respondents further clarified that while they say ['sɛɹəf] when the word is used alone, in the phrase sans serif they French it up to [sə'ɹif]. A few others specified a hybrid: they stress the second syllable, as one would do with a French loanword, but the vowel in the second syllable is the near-close near-front vowel /ɪ/ as in cliff, not /i/ as in reef.
So what we have here is a particularly interesting pronunciation variant that has emerged through the visual association of the orthography -if with French coupled with its association with the obvious loanword sans, but affects only those who know just enough French to get it wrong. Of course, a pronunciation used by well-educated people can eventually trickle down, particularly if some sort of typographic perfect storm were to strike in the media, exposing people to the word en masse. And a variant used by 20% of the populace doesn't really qualify as a speech error, and I wouldn't at all be surprised to see it appear in some dictionaries in the future, particularly those of a descriptivist bent.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the famous 1977 April Fools' Day hoax of the island nation of San Seriffe, from the Guardian. One or two commenters mentioned its existence, but I don't think it actually influenced anyone's pronunciation. While there are no well-known English words that end in -iffe, the parallel with surnames like Wycliffe might suggest a standard 'English' pronunciation, not the pseudo-French.
Last 10 pronunciation polls | All previous polls | Pronunciation polls with analytical essays | Dialect survey