A LED v. an LED

Hi Infinik

You use "an" before a vowel sound. So, if the pronunciation of LED is "el - ee - dee", then you should use "an".

- an LED display

You are absolutely right.

But I'm just wondering if people in the field of LED would pronounce it as "led". If that's the case, it may justify high percentage of "a LED" used.

I've never heard anyone pronounce LED (as in LED display) the same way they pronounce "led". I'd say it's more likely a case of people not thinking about what they are writing. People get into the habit of using "a" when writing words that begin with a consonant, and they sometimes do that even though they would say it differently.

The same sort of thing happens with

InfinikBut I'm just wondering if people in the field of LED would pronounce it as "led". If that's the case, it may justify high percentage of "a LED" used.

I used to work in a field where we used a lot of LEDs in our circuit boards. We almost always pronounced it as a word so, "a LED". Which way it's pronounced is probably largely a matter of the culture of a

Yankee, thanks for your clarification.

I got this another related question. Does acronym exempt from this "an LED" rule? Do we always try to pronounce an acronym before we precede it with an "a" or "an"?

Like RayH's reply, or take this example:

We are operating on an LASIK machine. (If we pronounce L-A-S-I-K)

We are operating on a LASIK machine. (

Hi Infinik

If, as Ray has said, there are places/companies that actually pronounce "LED" the same way they pronounce the past form of "lead" (i.e. as "led"), then I would expect them to also say "a LED". I just have never heard anyone say "LED" that way myself.

It always depends on the pronunciation. If the first sound is a vowel sound when the word is spoken, then we us

I use "an LED." When you see it written out, whoever wrote it saw the consonant "L" in "LED" and followed the rule of "a" before consonant sounds. For example, the words lion, lamb, lobster. Say them aloud and you use the "L" consonant sound. So, it would be a lion, a lamb, a lobster.

But when you say LED aloud, it sounds like "ELL EE DEE." That's because it is an acronym and you pronou

I have never head anyone say "LED" as in the past tense of "lead". It's always an L.E.D. (light emitting diode) for all the years I've dealt with it. Why "an"? I guess it's the same reason for "a university", not "an".

Hi again Inifinik,

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has only one pronunciation for the word LED.
Click http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/LED to listen to it. And that is the pronunciation I always hear people use.

For me, LED is

Every electronic and electric engineer I worked with pronounced LED both as L.E.D. and past tense lead. But they all prefered to pronounce it as one word to save time and take advantage of the beauty of an acronym.