'A Court of Thorns and Roses' book cover
via Bloomsbury Publishing

Complete ‘ACOTAR’ pronunciation guide

Never look dumb in front of your friends again.

Since its release in 2015, the stunning literary sensation A Court of Thorn and Roses (ACOTAR) has sold millions of copies and won the hearts fantasy fans worldwide. What’s even crazier is that we haven’t reached peak ACOTAR action just yet.

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There’s potentially a Hulu series on the way which is sure to make things much more popular, and that much more lucrative for author Sarah J. Mass. Regardless, the series has legs, and it even has its own sort of language, one that fans love to disseminate and study. That’s why we’re here: to help you learn how to pronounce everything you need to pronounce in the steamy fantasy series.

Let’s start with the characters (in alphabetical order):

  • Alis is pronounced like Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
  • Amarantha is pronounced Am-a-ran tha.
  • Amren is pronounced pretty much how it sounds: Am-ren.
  • Attor is pronounced slower and a bit more stodgy than it looks: At-tor.
  • Azriel is another one that’s different than it “should be”: Ahz-re-el.
  • Cassian is pretty dead on with Cas-e-an.
  • Elain has an “eh” start to it instead of the long “e” sound: Eh-lane.
  • Feyre looks like it should be pronounced kind of like “fire,” but it’s Fay-ruh.
  • Lucien is Loo-shien.
  • Morrigan, or Mor if you’re nasty, is a little different as well: More-eh-ghan or Mor.
  • Nesta pretty much sounds like it looks with Nes-Tah.
  • Rhysand, or Rhys, is the one that makes everyone go “whoa”: It’s Ree-sand or Reese.
  • Finally we have Tamlin, which is another dead ringer with Tam-lin.

Let’s move on to the places. Honestly, there are only two so there’s no need for another list. First we have Prythian, which is pronounced Prith-ee-en. Then we have Hybern, pronounced like you’re saying hi to a burn. Hi-Burn.

Next up is the species.

  • A Bogge is pronounced boh-ghi.
  • A Naga sounds just like it should with Nah-Gah.
  • A Puca is Pu-Kah.
  • A Suriel is Sur-ee-el.

And, finally, we have the Fire Night ceremony known as the Calanmai, which is pronounced Cal-an-may. Now you’re that much more immersed in the ACOTAR world and you can one-up people in real life! You’re welcome.


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Jon Silman
Jon Silman is a stand-up comic and hard-nosed newspaper reporter (wait, that was the old me). Now he mostly writes about Brie Larson and how the MCU is nose diving faster than that 'Black Adam' movie did. He has a Zelda tattoo (well, Link) and an insatiable love of the show 'Below Deck.'