• Question from:Bryan Bongey

I decided to post this question after I saw "chinese dino names," as it is in a similar vein. What is the correct pronunciation of the specific epithet of everyone's favorite four-winged dinosaur, Microraptor gui? (Over the years, I have pronunced it "gooey," "gwee," "gwee-eye," "guh-wee," and "goo-wee," and I am desperate to learn how to pronounce it correctly.)

P.S. Someone might have already said something like this in "chinese dino names," but one of my biology professors believes that anyone who names a new species should include in its description the intended pronunciation of its name. I implore everyone to tell that to every present and future nomenclaturalist (or whatever the correct term is) they meet.

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  • IVPP, Beijing
  • Posts: 612

I know people who call it 'goo-eye' and 'gwee'. However, I happen work with Xu Xing who actually described the little guy and named it and his pronunciation is closer to 'gwee' than anything else, so that is probably as accurate an answer as you are likely to get.

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  • At home in Ruardean, Gloucestershire, England
  • Posts: 378

You think you've got problems, I don't even know how to pronounce my own all-time favourite taxon: Brachiosaurus brancai.  I tend to say BRANK-eye, but it might well be BRANKY-eye, or BRANKA-eye or something completely different.