Community Chat

[Clover29]

It's a "language is fluid and changes with time" thing. Celtic used to be pronounced Seltic, back when the Boston team was formed (and the Glasgow soccer team who also pronounce their name Seltic). But then fashions changed, and the hard K became the standard.

[brii]

K sound

[CelticCrafter]

Hard C

[NoelSeven]

When referring to the Celtic people or the Celtic culture, it has always been a hard sound, as with K.

[SoX]

On 12/9/2014 brewhaha said:

Larry Bird

Best 3-point shooter, ever .... but my favorite wore #6, best Celtic ever.

[Chrystaltree2]

The Boston Celtics pronounce the C like an S. It's a soft C. However, whenever you see the word Celtic anywhere else, the C is pronounced like K. It's a hard C.

[stevieb]

I grew up thinking it was S because of the Boston Celtics, but was told in high school the K sound is more accurate so I usually stick with the K, though the S still seems right to me... Old habits...

[chickenbutt]

Yeah, that's one that's probably ok either way. Like Crystal said, the Boston Celtics is pronounced with a 'cell' sound. But when it refers to the Irish style it's a 'K' sound.

[Margo Channing]

Every native Irish person I know has pronounced it keltic, so that's ho we pronounce it. Also, at the Celtic Thunder concert the other nite, the lads pronounced it keltic.

[SusyQ222a]

I pronounce it with the hard c sound but it defies the old phonics rule soft c when followed by e, i, or y.