How do you say patent?

[Paranteser]

I need to give a speech and getting in doubt! Is it pay-tint or pat-int (short a as in pat or ay like in pay). Help!

Aye, as in pay

Pay-t'nt.

As in a patent for an invention? If so it's pa-tent. The pa is the same pronunciation as pat. I used to work in a patent office and many people used to pronounce it incorrectly as pay-tent.

Pay-tent is the American pronunciation. UK would be pa-tent. Many years of filing them for medical inventions.

A shiny shoe - Pay-tent
Patent for an invention is Pa-tent

According to the online Cambridge dictionary the correct pronunciation in British English is 'pay', the American pronunciation is 'pa'.

What @SillyMillie90 said.

The act of protecting an in invention with a patent is a short ‘a’

Otherwise, shiny leather, or as in “patently obvious” it’s a long “ay” sound as in hay.

I have always pronounce it pay-tent. Watching this thread with interest!

I only know because my Dad is a Patent Lawyer (or “Attorney” as they also weirdly say over here) and he always used to correct me when I said Pay-tent. 😂 He’d say “like the shoe? A shiny shoe lawyer?” 😁

This.

Also, if someone is telling an obvious lie, they're saying something pay-tently untrue.

I'm a lawyer, also confirming the invention protection is like Postman Pat and the shiny shoes are like payday.

Thank you all! I will say pa-tent with a short a like in pat. I am referring to the invention protection patent. And I know that likely in this group no one will care, but I will! (which is why I am on this group :D)

At school I was taught that if a vowel was followed by a single consonant it had the long pronunciation, if followed by a double consonant it was short.

So I say pay-tent. .

There could, of course, be some exceptions to this rule that I'm not aware of.

Patent - ˈpatnt
Patent (leather) -ˈpeɪtnt

I'd pronounce both words as pay-tint

Pa sound as in apple for patent attorney but the other way round for ‘patented’.

'Patent' (as in attorney) is one of those words that is commonly mispronounced unless you've come across it in that context AND you have the humility to accept that you may have previously been pronouncing it incorrectly.

Pat Pending the inventor in the Wacky Races. So must be short pat for inventions. Long pay for shoes.

I work with patent agents sometimes - it’s pronounced
pat-unt and saying paytunt will definitely suggest you are unfamiliar with patents.

I worked in the patent dept of a UK Govt company and frequently visited the UK Patent Office. It was always pa-tent. Only relaying my experience.

Patent, like cat-ent. Spent most of my career in intellectual property law firms, in America though. Most colleagues outside the US also pronounced it this way.

Professor Pat Pending was a character from Wacky Races, that is how I remember the different pronunciations.

That's interesting. Collins disagrees (and makes the distinction between legal pa-tent and pay-tent shoe). OED gives both for the legal version, listing pa-tent first, and only pay-tent for the shoe.

This page seems to say the verb and noun are pay and the adjective is pat. PATENT definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

If Collins can't even agree with themselves no wonder this is confusing!

My father was an engineer and held lots of patents. He pronounced it pay-tent, so I do too.

I would say pa-tent lawyer though!