Rendezvous is one of the English words whose pronunciation is nothing to do with its spelling .I have come across the word in the lesson Rendezvous with Ray I have understood its meaning and pronunciation.It is a French word with an English spelling. It is one of the most mispronounced words in countries like India.

What is the one word that rhymes with Rendezvous and what could be the possible reason for its peculiar pronunciation?

Here are two links which helped me to know about Rendezvous pronunciation in India and native English speaking countries especially in England

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rendezvous

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-hindi/rendezvous


I guess the reason why the pronunciation of rendezvous in English approximates the French pronunciation and does not sound the z of rendez and the s of vous might be that when English-speaking people are taught the rudiments of French, they learn that vous, a high frequency pronoun, is pronounced /vu/ (I leave aside liaison of vous with a following vowel where vous is realized as /vuz/) and ez as a conjugation ending is /e/. So when the word was borrowed from French into English, that basic knowledge of French checked any egregious mispronunciation of the /rɒndeɪzvu:z/ type

We have a more vexed issue in the spelling of rendezvous used as a verb:

  • I rendezvous /rɒndeɪvu:/
  • You rendezvous /rɒndeɪvu:/
  • He/she ??? /rɒndeɪvu:z/