Words at Play : 10 Words With Confusing Pronunciations
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#1: Quinoa

A look (and listen) at our most requested pronunciations.

Pronunciation:

\ˈkēn-ˌwä, kē-ˈnō-ə\

Definition:

: an annual herb (Chenopodium quinoa) of the goosefoot family that is native to the Andean highlands and is cultivated for its starchy seeds which are used as food and ground into flour

About the Word:

Quinoa is a trendy, protein-rich food. Our English word quinoa comes to us by way of the Spanish, who learned the word from the Andean people they observed cultivating a plant called kinua in the Quechua language.

Thousands of years – possibly as many as 5,000 – after it was first domesticated, quinoa was recognized by the United Nations, which declared 2013 to be the International Year of Quinoa.

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