Host was Croatian, so the 'o' would not have been pronounced to rhyme either with 'oh' or 'ah', but rather somewhere in between. I think a lot of us pronounce the plant as 'hoss-ta'.

In American English a short "o" is pronounced like "ah" as in octopus.

I say hah-sta!

The word hosta comes from someone named Host. I doubt he was called Hast.

==>>> can someone give me a link about this ... i was unaware of such ...

ken, here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Thomas_Host

My daughter the classics major says: "The answer to 'how was this Greek/Latin word pronounced' is 'however you like,' because the languages were spoken in so many accents for so long. It's like asking how something is pronounced in English without specifying region, century, or country."

It's like asking how something is pronounced in English without specifying region, century, or country."

===>>> OR TEXAS .... rotflmbo ...

ive tried to avoid this... but .... imo.. there are no ladies of the evening involved with the pronunciation of ha-sta ...

ken

ps: and dont get me started on if you can or need to make plural.. a species name ... i have a hosta... i have many hosta ... i dont not have hostas ...

And if I may be even more pedantic, 'Hosta' is actually the genus. The species are plantaginea, sieboldiana, lancifolia, etc.

Hey, can we help it if no one knows how to pronounce anything except us?

bkay

Native Texan

Nobody speaking English pronounces host as hast. Always willing to learn and grow - I'm calling em ho-stas from now on. But I still like what they used to be called - funkia. Wonder how that would work as a pick up line: 'would you like to come over to my house to see my funkia!' Smack!

Noun. funkia (plural funkias) Any of the plants of the genus Funkia (now Hosta).

And I have hostas. Not many hosta. Smack!

I feel like I am back in high school science class.....or botany......

Actually, the online dictionaries that I checked, including Merriman-Webster, say it's Hosta with a long O, like the word HOST (sponsoring an event) with an a on the end. The online pronunciation guides, however, say it has a "short" o, as in lost.

bkay

ACTUALLY: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hosta

hosta

nounhos·ta | \ ˈhō-stə , ˈhä-\

So ACTUALLY according to merriam-webster it is either/or.

And ACTUALLY the online audio pronounces it as HO-sta, as in most.

i have never heard anyone pronounce hosta with a short o as in lost (lawst). hawsta???