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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →In Australian English, both “maroon” and “maroan” are accepted pronunciations. The Australian National Dictionary Centre reported that maroan, rhyming with “phone,” was then the preferred form in Australian dictionaries; Oxford Learner’s Dictionary gives the pronunciation /məˈruːn/, roughly rhyming with “spoon.” The difference is regional usage, not a change in spelling or a simple right-versus-wrong test.
How do you pronounce maroon?
There are two pronunciations in Australian use:
- Maroon: /məˈruːn/, approximately “muh-ROON,” rhyming with “spoon.” Oxford Learner’s Dictionary gives this pronunciation for the word. Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
- Maroan: approximately “muh-ROAN,” rhyming with “phone.” The Australian National Dictionary Centre says both forms are acceptable in Australian English and reported in 2015 that maroan was then the more common form in current usage, as reflected by Australian dictionaries. Australian National Dictionary Centre
That 2015 statement describes dictionary guidance and the Centre’s assessment at the time. It is not a population survey measuring what proportion of Australians use each pronunciation today.
Is “maroan” the Australian pronunciation?
It is an accepted Australian pronunciation, but it is not the only one. The Australian National Dictionary Centre reported that Australian dictionaries had recorded both forms since 1987 and that maroan was their preferred form in 2015. That makes it fair to describe maroan as a preferred Australian dictionary pronunciation at that time—not to claim every Australian says it, or that the preference has been measured anew since.
Oxford’s /məˈruːn/ entry represents a general English dictionary pronunciation. The apparent mismatch reflects different dictionary contexts, not competing spellings. In Australian conversation, either pronunciation can be understood and is acceptable according to the Centre.
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The pronunciation is often noticed in Queensland discussions of the state’s maroon-colored sports teams, including the State of Origin side. In a 21 June 2023 ABC Brisbane segment, presenter Rebecca Levingston said Professor Roly Sussex connected the pronunciation with French origins and chestnuts. The segment summarizes his explanation; it is not a verbatim quotation from him. ABC Brisbane
That context may help explain why the word attracts attention, but the clearest guidance on acceptability is the Australian National Dictionary Centre’s statement that both forms are acceptable. The available sources do not establish how common either pronunciation is among Queenslanders specifically.
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What does “maroon” mean, and where does the word come from?
As a color noun, maroon refers broadly to a dark red-brown. Color labels are not perfectly uniform: Cambridge describes it as dark reddish-purple, so no single dictionary description should be treated as a precise universal hue. Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
Oxford traces the color noun through French marron, meaning “chestnut,” via Italian from medieval Greek, and dates the color sense to the late eighteenth century. That word history concerns the color noun; it should not be used to conflate it with the separate verb maroon, meaning to strand someone.
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Is it ever spelled “maroan”?
Not when you mean the standard English word for the color. The spelling remains maroon; maroan is a phonetic way to show one pronunciation, not an alternative spelling. And despite the title’s joke, the pronunciation discussion is about the color word—not the band Maroon 5.
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