The Sound of WIFI

I call it "WHY FYE." But that's not understood where it's called "WEE FEE," usually with both syllables clipped short. Any other pronunciations around to prepare for?

And is there any place where hi-fi is pronounced "hee fee"? Or sci-fi "see fee"?

Where do you hear "wee fee"? I've never run into that, but then I haven't roamed the world looking for internet connections either.

"WiFi" as a term was created by a consulting company called Interbrand. It was meant to be a play on "hi fi," hence the pronunciation.
>In 1999, a handful of industry leaders formed a global non-profit organization with the goal of “driving the adoption of a single worldwide accepted standard for high-speed wireless local area networking.” They called themselves the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA).
>As IEEE 802.11 was the technical name for the standard, one of WECA’s first tasks was to adopt a more memorable, user-friendly name for marketability and relevance.
>Phil Belanger, a founding member of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (now known as the Wi-Fi Alliance) approached Interbrand knowing that he “needed something that was a little catchier than IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence.” We came up with the name Wi-Fi and then created a logo to match the new name.

There is no "fidelity" in WiFi. See this article in which Phil Bekanger explains it. WiFi is not short for Wireless Fidelity

Wi-Fi doesn't stand for anything.
It is not an acronym. There is no meaning.

[snip]
>The only reason that you hear anything about "Wireless Fidelity" is some of my colleagues in the group were afraid. They didn't understand branding or marketing. They could not imagine using the name "Wi-Fi" without having some sort of literal explanation...[so they added the tag line "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity"]...And "Wireless Fidelity" - what does that mean? Nothing. It was a clumsy attempt to come up with two words that matched Wi and Fi. That's it.

Edited by: nutraxfornerves. Blast that apostrophe bug!

Hi-fi is "hee-fee" where wi-fi is "wee-fi"....It's the case in french, but curiously, sci-fi is "sye-fee" most of the time, thanks to TV and other medias.

This post has been removed because it may not have met our community guidelines.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=weefee

I have been reliably informed that the next iteration of Thorn Tree, in addition to having PMs restored, will also be finally liberated from the apostrophe bug.

O Frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

In Hungary, WiFi is pronounced "viffy". And sci-fi is pronounced "skiffy".

Also in the german speaking countries, because the people who will say wee-fee call it like they read it in german and in german the spelling of Wifi is Wee-fee !

'wee fee' is the french pronunciation. The spelling remains WiFi but the letter 'i' is pronounced as an 'ee'.

onyx007, the German for WiFi is WLAN, isn't it?

In Spain it's weefee, as wi-fi would sound in Spanish. In Mexico it's pronounced just like in English though.

I heard hi-fee before in Germany although never wi-fee.

#9 WiFi and WLAN are different things. The first one is a transmission standard while the second one describes a Wireless Local Area Network (but not necessarily working on WiFi).

WLAN needs a cord and plug, so no WIFI, no?

Cosmopolitan, in Germany "Haben Sie WLAN?" means the same thing in a bar as "Haben Sie WiFi?", but is more likely to be understood in my experience. Although the answer in either case is usually "Leider nicht".

micolett, no, WLAN is wireless.

For a short history of the origin and development of wifi, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

Note that the Australian government and CSIRO receive royalties on all wifi products until the patent expires.

Wee-fee is how it's pronounced in Dutch, too. But hifi is hye-fye.