Attention commoners, you've probably been saying Waitrose incorrectly
It’s a British staple – but do you know how to properly pronounce it? (Picture: Shutterstock / cornfield) Waitrose is known the UK over for being the fanciest of supermarkets. An indicator that you’re in a town where locals have cash to burn, when you’re pushing a trolley through those hallowed aisles, you may feel a little out of place.
So, to make sure you’re fitting in with the well-to-do, there’s one thing you simply must do: pronounce ‘Waitrose’ correctly. Yep, we hate to drop this bombshell, but you’ve probably been saying it wrong. Content creator, Annabel Port, who shares facts and stories about British history on TikTok, revealed that there is one official way to say the name of the supermarket.
After reaching out to Waitrose, a spokesperson for the company revealed that it’s said ‘Wait-rose’, rather than the more common ‘Way-trose’. @theotherbritishmuseum Let’s settle this once and for all. How do you pronounce the name of British supermarket, Waitrose, and the history behind this shop. #british #britishculture #britishhistory ♬ original sound – The Other British Museum – The Other British Museum
She explained: ‘I contacted them to find out and they said: “The pronunciation Wait-Rose, is the original way, as it comes from the founders’ last names, Waite and Rose.”‘ Confused? Essentially, there is more of a gap between the ‘Wait’ and the ‘Rose’, (the last names of founders Wallace Waite and Arthur Rose), and a harder ‘t’ on the ‘Wait’, rather than the two syllables merging into one.
Annabel, who goes by @theotherbritishmuseum on Instagram, continued: ‘It’s unclear when this morphed into Way-trose, but it slowly became the name and Waitrose just went along with it. ‘But if you want to be both correct and retro, you should say Wait-Rose.’ Waitrose’s official TikTok even commented on her post confirming: ‘It’s pronounced Wait-rose, not Waitrose.’
The fancy shop even has a royal warrant (Picture: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images) Annabel also shared some interesting facts about the supermarket, which was first founded in 1904 under ‘Waite, Rose & Taylor,’ the three founders, before being shortened to ‘Waitrose’ four years later, after Taylor left.
She revealed that the shop was the first to sell organic produce in 1983 and the first to offer prepackaged sushi in 1996. Annabel’s post garnered a flurry of comments, with @idas24601 saying: ‘OK, I’m going to be insufferable with this information’, and @user67160721420087 writing: ‘My mum loves spending my inheritance in Waitrose’, referencing it’s hefty prices.
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Users on the identical Instagram reel also joined in the debate. Commenter @robert_macginn jokes that it is ‘Waitreaux,’ perhaps pointing fun at it’s posh image. This is echoed by @robertosdough who says ‘we call it “the bloody expensive one”’ and @mark_whitaker64 jokes ‘I can’t afford to say it.’
As of June 2026, there are 426 Waitrose stores, with consumer comparison champion Which? reporting in May that an average price of 95 items is £235.49. Not the cheapest, compared to Aldi’s £168.30 or Lidl’s £170.66. But, it did score first place for online shopping, and got 5/5 stars for range and availability of products, overall quality of own-label and fresh products, and store appearance. While Lidl and Aldi only got 3/3 for each catergory.
What other brands are we pronouncing wrong? Waitrose isn’t the only shop that we have been pronouncing wrong. Apparently, we have all been saying Italian restaurant chain, Prezzo, incorrectly. Olly Smith, chief brand officer at Prezzo previously told Metro: ‘We celebrate diversity at Prezzo – of all things, including the pronunciation of our name.
‘The word Prezzo is of Italian origin meaning price. And, many of our customers are surprised to discover that the correct way to say Prezzo is “PreT-zo”, with the first z pronounced like a t, rather than “PreZ-zo”.’ Did you know this was how you say Prezzo? (Picture: Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Nutella is pronounced ‘new-tell-uh’, not ‘nuh-tell-uh’ Ikea is pronounced ‘ih-key-yah’, not ‘eye-key-ah’ Hyundai is pronounced ‘hun-day’, not ‘hi-un-dye’ Porsche is pronounced ‘por-sha’, not ‘porsh’ Nike is pronounced ‘ni-key’, not ‘nyke’
Hoegaarden is pronounced ‘who-gar-den’, not ‘ho-gar-den’ Moschino is pronounced ‘moss-key-no’, not ‘moss-chee-no’ Hermès is pronounced ‘air-mez’, not ‘her-meez’ Bvlgari is pronounced ‘bull-guh-ree’, not ‘bull-gar-ee’
Balmain is pronounced ‘bal-mah’, not ‘bal-main’ Miele is pronounced ‘meal-uh’, not ‘mee-ell’ Ocado is pronounced ‘uh-car-doh’, not ‘oh-car-doh’ Adobe is pronounced ‘ah-doh-bee’, not ‘ah-dobe’ Volkswagen is pronounced ‘vo-ks var-gun’, not ‘volks wag-en’
Adidas is pronounced ‘ah-DEE-das’, not ‘AH-dee-das’ TAGHeuer is pronounced ‘tag haw-yer’, not ‘tag hew-air’ So, there you have it, the proper way to say companies and brands, so you can feel smug the next time you say them. More food news from Metro Kellogg’s have changed one of their cereals, and a £2.49 supermarket sausage has been crowned as the UK best.