[Aaron Poochigian]

Alright, no more screwing around. How do you pronounce "jaguar"?

Is is true that Americans say "JAG-wahr"

and Brits says "JAG-you-are"?

T.S. Eliot, an Anglophiliac from Missouri, says, in "Whispers of Immortality"

the couched Brazilian jaguar

Which pronunciation does he intend? I think he affects the British one. Yes?

[Ann Drysdale]

Well, I say jag-you-are and Eliot spent a lot of time in my territory.

More to the point, in that poem, only jag-you-are will scan.

Balance it, as he does, against the marmoset.

Editing in to explain that my jaguar is a dactyl, like my marmoset. I say the "ar" as a definite syllable, but not stressed. It is as if I were saying it as a part of the verb "to be" in a conversational sentence, not "Ah!" like a Romantic Poet, or "Arrr", like a pirate.

Let's ask the man who really knows the beasts: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6byu15
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[Matt Q]

I say it more like Jag-you-uh, like this lady

Though if you're Madness then you rhyme it with "car" for obvious reasons.

[Mark McDonnell]

Yep, same as Matt and the pronunciation lady.

[Simon Hunt]

A lot of americans say JAG-wire, and I've always wondered why. Anybody know? Spanish speakers who live where the animals live say HAHG-wahr...

[Maryann Corbett]

I learned to say "JAG-wahr" from Marlin Perkins on Wild Kingdom as a wee person. I didn't know why on earth my teacher pronounced it "JAG-you-are" when she read to us from Winnie the Pooh.

[David Anthony]

If it's a car we Brits pronounce it Jag.

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

JAG-you're rather than JAG-you-are. Two syllables, not three.

Duncan

[Allen Tice]

I prefer Jag-you-are, as like "Cad-you-are" from Kiss Me Kate.

[Kevin Rainbow]

That's normal for word-endings beginning with u (often Latin endings such as -uous, -ual, -uent, -uit, etc), just as it is with those beginning with "i", often taking a "y" sound.


conduit = cond"wit", cond"you"it, con"do"it
casual = cas"you"al, cas"w"al.
contiguous - contig"you"ous, contig"w"ous

Some may stick to a pronunciation because it is more common in their area, but ultimately it is optional.

In earlier poetry, usually the only way such a word fits the pattern correctly is by going by the shorter consonantal pronunciation, not the longer vocalic one. It makes sense to go for the shorter pronunciation, as you can fit more in your meter if you use up less space with unnecessary syllables.

"And add perpetual tenor to my rhymes"" (Dryden's translation of Metamorphosis)

Perpet"w"al


"With patriot sorrows swelling at his breast,
He sank upon a jaguar's hide to rest."

(William Lisle Bowles' The Missionary)

William Lisle Bowles was British, but is clearly using a two syllable pronunciation of "jaguar" in the above lines.

This is the approach I generally follow, not just in poetry but in everyday speech. Why waste breath pronouncing a word a longer way, when a shorter way is available?

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