Moving to Seattle or Visiting Washington State
How to Pronounce Words like Puyallup, Sammamish, and Salish
Apr 6, 2009
The Seattle area has difficult to pronounce Native American names and quirky pronunciations of English words. Seattle people lived in an isolated, provincial city before Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks brought in new life and urbanity to the area. Friendly people who are moving to Seattle or visiting Washington should try to learn how to pronounce words like Puyallup.
How to Pronounce Words of Native American Origin
- Alki: AL-kye (like eye). A beach in West Seattle.
- Issaquah: IZZ-uh-kwah (not ISS-uh-kwah). A city east of Seattle.
- Puyallup: pyoo-AL-up. (pyoo rhymes with you.) This is a city South of Seattle and the name comes from the "generous and welcoming" Puyallup Indian Tribe.
- Salish: SAY-lish. The Salish Lodge – a swank hotel east of Seattle, and the name of a tribe.
- Sammamish: Suh-MAM-ish. This is the name of a lake, a river, a city, a tribe and the cool Sammamish River Trail. All are east of Seattle.
- Skagit: SKAH-jit (The “A” is like cat.). The Skagit Valley is north of Seattle and known for its Tulip Festival. It is named for the Skagit Tribe.
- Snoqualmie: snow-KWALL-mee. This is the name of a city, a waterfall (Snoqualmie Falls below the Salish Lodge), a way to get to Eastern Washington (Snoqualmie Pass), and the name of a tribe.
- Snohomish (snow-HOE-mish). A county and a city, both north of Seattle; also the name of a tribe.
- Spokane: SPO-kan (like can). A city near Idaho and the name of a tribe.
- Tulalip (tuh-LAY-lup). A name seldom heard, generally, until recently when a casino and outlet mall were built. It is also the name of a tribe.
- Tukwila (tuck-WILL-uh). This city is where one finds Southcenter Mall.(South of Seattle)
- Duwamish (do-WAHM-ish). A river in south Seattle and the name of a tribe.
How to Pronounce Words that are Seattle Standards
- Green Lake: GREENLAKE (all one word). A place to rollerblade, walk, jog, and bike in north Seattle.
- Rainier: ray-NEAR. (Not pronounced in the French manner.) Mount Rainier is a mountain southeast of Seattle.
- West Seattle: WESSIE-attl (all one word). A former granny area which is like a friendly small town.
- Puget: PYOO-jut (the pyoo rhymes with you). Puget Sound is the water (sound) west of Seattle.
- Burien (BYUR-ee-un) A city south of Seattle.
- Duvall (do-VALL) The accent is on the SECOND syllable. A city east of Seattle.
- Uwajimaya (oo-WAH-jeh-my-uh) A cool Asian store and this gives on extra points.
- Medina: muh-DYE-nuh (It is pronounced wrongly, and probably should be pronounced like the Arabian city of Medina). A tony suburb east of Seattle.
- Kirkland (KIRK-lun). A hip city on the Seattle Eastside.
- The Bridge (thuh-BRIDJ). All one word. Used for either the 520 or I-90 floating bridge.
- The ID (thuh EYE DEE). The International District, formerly known as Chinatown.
- UW (YOU DUB). The University of Washington.
If one has not grown up hearing these unusual names, it’s difficult to know how to pronounce the words used in the Seattle area. Anyone moving to Seattle or visiting Washington State might want to do their best to speak the lingo.
In the summer, Seattle and its surrounding areas are as beautiful as Switzerland, New Zealand, or Paris. It's not bad in the winter either, if a visitor likes skiing, snowboarding, (rough) sport sailing conditions, windsurfing, and other outdoor diversions.
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