Pronunciation should be easy once you learn the ‘rules’, as Welsh is largely phonetic. Although some vowels and consonants sound the same as in English, others are different. One or two sounds have no close English equivalent, and are best learned by listening carefully to a native speaker. Vowels, which also include ‘w’ and ‘y’, have long or short forms, depending on whether they have a circumflex, known in Welsh as a ‘to bach’.
The following basic place-name elements often appear on maps, and it is interesting to try and translate names while passing through the countryside. In some instances place names describe particular landforms perfectly, while in other instances they describe what the landscape might once have looked like, before places and even whole areas were drastically altered.
a/â – short form as in ‘cat’ and long form as in ‘aah’
ae/ai/au – as English ‘eye’
aw – as English ‘how’
b – as English ‘best’
c – as English ‘cat’, always hard and never soft
ch – as in the guttural Scottish sound at the end of ‘loch’
d – as English ‘dig’
dd – as English ‘th’ in ‘this’ and ‘that’
e/ê – short form as in ‘get’ and long form as in ‘gate’
eu/ei – as English ‘hay’
ew – no English equivalent, so pronounce it somewhere between ‘eh-oo’ and ‘ow-oo’
f – as English ‘vary’
ff – as English ‘fish’
g – as English ‘got’, always hard and never soft
h – as English ‘hot’, always pronounced and never silent
i/î – short form as in ‘pin’ and long form as in ‘seen’
iw – as English ‘yew’
l – as English ‘look’
ll – no English equivalent, so pronounce it as ‘thl’ until you are able to hear and copy the sound correctly
m – as English ‘more’
n – as English ‘none’
ng – as English ‘finger’
o/ô – short form as in ‘hot’ and long form as in ‘foe’
oe/oi – as English ‘boy’
p – as English ‘pick’
r – as English ‘rip’ and sometimes slightly rolled
rh – pronounced ‘hr’ as if the letters are reversed
s – as English ‘sip’
si – as English ‘ship’
t – as English ‘tip’
th – as English ‘thank’ or ‘think’
u/û – short form as in ‘pit’ and long form as ‘ee’
w/ŵ – short form as in ‘hoot’ or ‘pup’ and long form as a longer ‘oo’. However, it can also be pronounced the English way, as in ‘win’, in certain words.
wy – as English ‘win’
y/ŷ – short form varies from a short ‘ee’ to ‘uh’ and long form is a longer ‘ee’
yw – as English ‘yew’
ywy – as English ‘oo-ee’
One important point to note is that some names ‘mutate’ in Welsh, so that ‘bont’ becomes ‘pont’, and ‘bach’ becomes ‘fach’, and vice-versa. The list therefore includes a lot of repetition.
| aber | river mouth |
| afon | river |
| allt | wooded slope |
| bach/fach | small |
| ban/fan | summit |
| banc | hillock/mound |
| bont/pont | bridge |
| bron/fron | slope |
| bryn | hill |
| bwlch | gap/pass |
| caer/gaer | fort |
| carn/garn | cairn |
| castell | castle |
| cefn | ridge |
| côch/gôch | red |
| coed | wood |
| craig/graig | rock |
| cwm | valley |
| dinas | fort/citadel |
| dôl | meadow |
| dref/tref | town |
| dyffryn | vale |
| eglwys | church |
| esgair | ridge |
| fach/bach | small |
| fan/ban | summit |
| fawr/mawr | great |
| ffordd | road |
| ffridd | mountain pasture |
| foel/moel | bald |
| fron/bron | slope |
| gaer/caer | fort |
| garn/carn | cairn |
| glan | riverbank |
| glas | blue |
| gôch/côch | red |
| graig/craig | rock |
| gwaun/waun | marshy moor/meadow |
| gwern | alder |
| gwyn/wen | white |
| hafod | summer farm |
| hen | old |
| isaf | lower |
| llan | church |
| llechwedd | hillside |
| llwyd/lwyd | grey |
| llyn | lake |
| maes | field |
| mawr/fawr | great |
| moel/foel | bald |
| mynydd | mountain |
| nant | stream |
| pant | hollow |
| pen | head/end |
| pentre | village |
| plas | hall |
| pont/bont | bridge |
| pwll | pool |
| rhiw | hill |
| rhos | moor |
| tref/dref | town |
| tŷ | house |
| uchaf | upper |
| waun/gwaun | marshy moor/meadow |
| y/yr | the |