How is “route” pronounced?

I was taught that in English, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 having the “e” on the end changes the sound of the “ou” from the hard “ow” to the softer “oo”.

Americans pronounce “route” as “rowt “ but the English pronounce it as “root”.

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SomeMichGuy · M

We in the US actually use both of these different pronunciations, one of which tends to be based upon the part of speech.

1) As a verb used for war (to route an enemy), we usually say "rowt" (rhymes with "out").

2) As a noun meaning "path", either "rowt" or "root" (rhymes with "moot" or "boot", etc.) is used.

• Some people might use one pronunciation for a path taken by a physical means of transportation (the route followed by a vehicle) and another for the path used by internet traffic (or a theoretical path).

=> The pronunciation choice for "path of internet traffic" usually dictates the pronunciation used for the related terms

- to route, verb referring to choosing the path, including exchanging routing information between...

- routers, noun referring to the specialized computers which PERFORM the routing (verb, last example).