Pronunciation of en- prefix as ahn-

Recently, I pronounced the word enqueue as ahn-queue. The person I was talking to said he would have pronounced it with a more normal en sound (like in Ben or den).

I'm not sure why I thought that ahn- was the way to pronounce this—it seems to be wrong according to the dictionary.

The cases that ahn- seems to be correct are two-word french phrases (e.g., en route). I also thought of envoy, which does allow the ahn- pronunciation as a second option.

Is there a pattern for which words allow or require en- to be pronounced as ahn-? Or is this just something you have to know word-by-word?

Solution 1:

The list of en- words that can be pronounced /an/ rather than /ɪn/ or /ɛn/ is pretty short. From a quick search of the Carnegie-Mellon Pronouncing Dictionary, these words start with en- and can be pronounced /an/ (some have alternate pronunciations with /ɛn/):

ENCLAVE
ENCLAVES
ENCORE
ENCORES
ENFANT
ENSEMBLE
ENSEMBLES
ENTENDRE
ENTOURAGE
ENTOURAGES
ENTRE
ENTREE
ENTREES
ENTREPRENEUR
ENTREPRENEUR'S
ENTREPRENEURIAL
ENTREPRENEURS
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ENVOY
ENVOYS

I will note also that Merriam-Webster does also countenance /an/ for envelope. However, few if any other en- words can be pronounced /an/.

Solution 2:

En- is pronounced in French roughly like English's ahn. Most words beginning with en- have a French origin, explaining this behavior. When in doubt, if the word looks French, go with ahn. Of course that doesn't work for all cases, for example engage or envy. I don't know of any steadfast rule to follow.

Solution 3:

Indeed, most of the en- words are of French origin. However, majority of them are pronounced |en|, as in envy. It is not uncommon to hear some of them mispronounced |ahn|. This is rife and quite acceptable in America, most especially for the word envelope.

All the compound French-derived words beginning with en are pronounced |ahn|. En route can also be pronounced as written.