The word forte (pronounced “fort”) is a French word meaning “strength” that is used in English to refer to one’s talent or ability.
Example: English is my forte.
This word is often mispronounced “FOR-tay” because it is confused with the Italian word forte (pronounced “FOR-tay”). The words are spelled the same but have different pronunciations and meanings. If you play a musical instrument, you will probably recognize the Italian word as a term meaning “loud.” When referring to ability, the correct pronunciation is “fort,” but in music, it is always “FOR-tay.” (Listen)
Music: Yes, that’s correct. The debate is whether the the word is pronounced “fort” or “for-tay” when used to mean a strength/strong point.
In music,isn’t the word pronounced “Fortay”
I’m gonna have to agree that forte, though perhaps technically incorrectly pronounced “fortay”, would be far more confusing if pronounced “fort”. In the vernacular, as Michael (above) notes, it is always pronounced “fortay”.
[...] someone's name. It's even more more of a faux pas if it is in reference to something you're supposedForte, pronounced FOR-tay GrammarErrors.comIf you play a musical instrument, you will probably recognize the Italian word as a term meaning [...]
Hi,
I’d just like to note that, here in the UK, the ability meaning of forte is always pronounced as ‘for-tay’. That’s ‘always’ as in ‘never otherwise’.
Regards
Michael