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How Do You Pronounce foliage?
Whether you’re a casual leaf peeper or a card-carrying botanist, a staunch New Englander or Caribbean beach bum, there’s plenty to love about foliage—though the pronunciation of foliage has long been a point of contention among English speakers. Most commonly accepted is the trisyllabic \FOH-lee-ij\. However, there’s no denying that the pronunciations \FOH-lij\ and even \FOY-lij\ have also staked their claim. The first of these disputed pronunciations is consistent with the pronunciation of the -iage ending in marriage and carriage. The second is often more fiercely denounced, in part because of its association with the nonstandard spelling foilage. But there’s redemption for this estranged pronunciation: foliage traces back to Middle French foille ("leaf"), which is also the source of the English word foil (as in "aluminum foil"). When adopted by Middle English speakers, foil originally meant "leaf." Love it or leaf it, there’s just no taking the "foil" out of foliage.
Examples of foliage in a Sentence
Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 2 May 2026
Rust spores overwinter in leaf debris and infect new foliage in spring with as little as two to four hours of moisture.
—Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 May 2026
Other creatures abound, all of them combining animal life and foliage with the same mix-and-match obviousness that the rest of this movie combines basic Disney adventuring with Miyazakian eco-concern.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 1 May 2026
The thoughtfully landscaped courtyard with its water features, eclectic seating vignettes, and verdant foliage deserves a mention.
—Carrie Honaker, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for foliage
Cite this Entry
“Foliage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foliage. Accessed 5 May. 2026.
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