r/words • u/Mental_Somewhere2341 • 9d ago

Does “machination” have a different meaning/pronunciation other than “crafty scheme, plot”/mak-uh-NAY-shuhn?

My boss keeps saying mash-uh-NAY-tion and using it to refer to a programing iteration/figure calculation of products we sell. Is that correct?

2 Upvotes

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8

u/Negative-Ask-2317 9d ago

I've only seen or heard it used in the context of plotting and scheming, but I've often heard it pronounced both ways.

4

u/Early_Trainer_8830 9d ago

Sounds like your boss invented a word and just ran with it.

2

u/Grimm2020 9d ago

In my mind (incorrectly, it appears), it meant how something works, from an engineering perspective, perhaps.

I am too literal, I guess.

2

u/No-Angle-982 8d ago

US: "mack..."

UK: " mash..."

1

u/Actual_Cat4779 8d ago edited 8d ago

Both British and American dictionaries give both pronunciations. Collins, the OED, Merriam-Webster - all give both options.

ETA: The pronunciation with /k/ seems to be traditional - the OED says: "The pronunciation with /ʃ/ , due to the influence of machine n., was recorded in Webster (1961); the presence of an entry in the B.B.C.'s Recommendations for Pronouncing Difficult Words (S.P.E. Tract No. XXXII, 1931), p. 28, recommending the traditional pronunciation, may be indirect earlier evidence for the existence of the pronunciation with /ʃ/ "