The pronunciation of this Shih Tzu dog breed is quite interesting. Many people, both owners and established breeders, do not know how to spell Shih Tzu correctly. The reason lies in the tendency to adopt the easiest or assumed pronunciation based on spelling, a common occurrence in languages.
For example, a word often mispronounced is ‘Ártico’ (Arctic), where people might say “Artic” instead of the correct pronunciation “Ártico” (Arc-tic). A similar phenomenon has occurred with the word ‘Shih Tzu.’
Many people misspell it as ‘shitzu,’ and various incorrect pronunciations, such as ‘shihtzu,’ ‘Shitzu,’ ‘chihtzu,’ ‘Sheet Zoo,’ ‘shi tzu,’ ‘xitzu,’ and more, have become popular. The American Shih Tzu Club officially confirms the correct pronunciation as “Sheed-zoo.”
The story emphasizes the importance of pronouncing Shih Tzu correctly and dispels the misconception that it translates to “Lion Dog.” The accurate translation is “Son of Lion,” with “Shih” meaning lion and “Tzu” meaning child or offspring.