[ɛl.ˈeː.tɛç]

We don’t mind if le-tex is pronounced incorrectly. But here’s how to do it right.

“le” is not pronounced like the French article, but like Los Angeles, with the "E" pronounced in the German way. This LE sounds like a German from Saxony would pronounce LA, Saxons being known for their distinctive pronunciation. Saxony is of course the German state where Leipzig is located, and LE is an affectionate abbreviation for Leipzig with delusions of grandeur that – in a tongue-in-cheek way – puts Leipzig in the big league with cities like LA. It was made popular in the 1990s by the city magazine kreuzer.

“tex” is derived from the TeX typesetting system which we still use to typeset math and physics books. The TeX inventor Donald Knuth writes in his “TeXbook”, that one speaks the X as “ch” as in “blecchhh”. Many German-speaking users prefer this [ç], including us.