How to pronounce gnocchi

Short answer: say NYOH-kee or NYAW-kee: start with the "ny" sound in canyon, then add "kee". The G is silent and the cchi is a K, never "chee". In Italian, gnocchi is [ˈɲɔkki], with a longer K in the middle. Some American dictionaries also list versions without the "y", such as NAW-kee, NAH-kee and NOH-kee, and British dictionaries give NYOK-ee or NOCK-ee.

Listen

Is the G in gnocchi silent?

Yes, in standard English and in Italian. The only question is what happens to the "ny" sound after it. English dictionaries list several gnocchi pronunciations:

"Guh-NOCK-ee", with the G pronounced, does turn up in a British dictionary (Collins), and Wiktionary lists an American "guh-NOH-kee" as humorous, but language guides such as Preply treat it as a mistake, along with "NOTCH-ee", which reads the ch the English way.

Gnocchi is a famously tricky word. The language-learning site Preply put it at number one in its 2023 list of the most mispronounced pasta names, based on how often people search for its pronunciation, and in a 2026 survey of 2,000 British adults for Škoda UK it made the top five of the country's most mispronounced words.

Why is gnocchi pronounced that way?

Two Italian spelling rules are hiding in the word:

• gn is one sound, not two. In Italian, gn stands for the "ny" sound, the same as Spanish ñ or the middle of canyon. English already drops the G at the start of words like gnome and gnat, so the silent G is the easy part; the "y" is what most people miss.
• chi is "kee". Italian writes ch before i and e to keep a hard K. The same rule explains bruschetta (broo-SKET-uh), zucchini and Chianti. The double cc is simply a longer K.

Gnocchi is the plural of gnocco, a word for a lump or a knot. Merriam-Webster traces it to a dialect of the Veneto region, probably from a Germanic word related to English knuckle, and dates the first known use in English to 1891.

How to say gnocchi step by step

1. Start with "ny": press the middle of your tongue against the roof of your mouth and say the "ny" in canyon. No G before it.
2. Add the vowel: "oh" or "aw" (in Italian it's an open "aw", as in off), stressed.
3. Finish with "kee": a clean K and a short "ee". In Italian, hold the K a moment longer.

Put it together: NYOH-kee. If "ny" feels hard at the start of a word, say canyon slowly and keep just the "nyo".

Practice in a sentence

• I'll have the potato gnocchi with brown butter and sage.
• Gnocchi, lasagna and bruschetta all hide an Italian sound in their spelling.
• Is the G silent in gnocchi? Yes: NYOH-kee.

Then try other Italian words with the same spelling rules. American pronunciations, from the Cambridge Dictionary and Wiktionary:

For more Italian food words, see how to pronounce bruschetta, bolognese and espresso. For other borrowed food words, see gyro, açaí and pho, or our list of 45 commonly mispronounced words.

What is gnocchi?

Gnocchi are small Italian dumplings, usually made from potato and flour, boiled and served with a sauce. In Rome there's a traditional weekly menu, "Thursday gnocchi, Friday fish, Saturday tripe", and many trattorias still serve gnocchi on Thursdays. In Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, many people eat gnocchi on the 29th of each month, and some put money under the plate for luck.

Sources

• Merriam-Webster — gnocchi; Cambridge Dictionary — gnocchi; Oxford Learner's Dictionaries — gnocchi
• Dictionary.com — gnocchi; Collins — gnocchi; Wiktionary — gnocchi
• Wikipedia — Italian orthography and Gnocchi
• Preply — the most mispronounced pasta names, 2023; Škoda UK — Britain's most mispronounced words, 2026; Turismo Roma — Thursday gnocchi