5 pronunciation exercises on the database systems that power modern backend infrastructure.
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How is "PostgreSQL" pronounced?
PostgreSQL is pronounced "POST-gres-cue-EL" /ˈpoʊstɡrɛs kjuː ɛl/ formally — four distinct parts: POST + gres + Q + L. Informally, most developers just say "Postgres" /ˈpoʊstɡrɛs/ and drop the SQL suffix entirely. Stress falls on the first syllable "POST." The "SQL" part follows the same pronunciation as the query language itself. In a sentence: "We migrated from MySQL to PostgreSQL to take advantage of JSONB indexing."
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How is "MySQL" pronounced?
MySQL is pronounced "my ESS-cue-EL" /maɪ ɛs kjuː ɛl/ — the word "my" followed by the three letters S, Q, L spelled individually. Unlike Microsoft's "sequel" tradition, MySQL's creators spell out the letters. The "My" prefix comes from co-creator Michael Widenius's daughter's name. Stress is light across all parts. In a sentence: "The legacy application connects to a MySQL database with a connection pool of 20."
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How is "SQLite" pronounced?
SQLite is pronounced "ESS-cue-EL-ite" /ˌɛs kjuː ˈlaɪt/ — the three SQL letters followed by "-lite" /laɪt/ (rhyming with "light"). Stress falls on the final syllable "LITE." The official SQLite FAQ confirms this pronunciation. It is sometimes also heard as "sequel-ite" but the letter-spelling variant is more widely accepted. In a sentence: "Mobile apps often embed SQLite because it requires no separate server process."
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How is "CockroachDB" pronounced?
CockroachDB is pronounced "COCK-rohch dee-bee" /ˈkɒkroʊtʃ diː biː/ — the compound noun "cockroach" /ˈkɒkroʊtʃ/ (stress on first syllable) followed by "DB" as two letters D-B. The cockroach insect gives the database its name because cockroaches survive almost anything — just like the database is designed to survive node failures. In a sentence: "CockroachDB is our choice for geo-distributed workloads because it handles region failures gracefully."
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How is "Cassandra" pronounced?
Cassandra is pronounced "kuh-SAN-druh" /kəˈsændrə/ — three syllables: kuh (schwa) + SAN (stressed, short /æ/ like "cat") + druh (schwa). Stress falls firmly on the second syllable. The name comes from Greek mythology — the prophetess Cassandra who was never believed. The /kə/ opening is unstressed. In a sentence: "We store time-series sensor data in Cassandra because it handles high write throughput across many nodes."