Why is licorice pronounced with a 'sh' sound at the end when it is written with 'ce' at the end?

I think it is basically just an inability within the english-speaking community to pronounce the -ce at the end of this word with clarity.
Every community has difficulty with some sounds that are easy for speakers of other communities to say. The word was originally liquorice, coming in from the French, where is would have been pronounced something like "lick-o-reess". (In fact, in old French, it was even spelt "licoresse".) But English has a little problem pronouncing the "ice", with it becoming "ish".

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With all due respect, no one in the US or UK has any difficulty pronouncing the "-ice" ending sound correctly (as "iss")- you never hear anyone pronounce "prejudice" as "prejudish," for example.

The plain and simple fact is that the "ish" pronunciation is due entirely to ignorance and laziness- just like the widespread abomination "me and him" used as the subject of a sentence.

The true travesty here is that Merriam Webster and other so-called language authorities are caving to the widespread ignorance and listing the "ish" error as acceptable just because its misuse is so widespread. So, the so-called authorities where people go to learn correct pronunciation are, contrarily, helping to spread the ignorance.
- Report
by HoggyDog on September 30th, 2011

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Why is licorice pronounced with a 'sh' sound at the end when it is written with 'ce' at the end?

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