How do you pronounce Charas?

[Kilyle]

"Charas" is one of those words I have only ever seen in print, and don't have sound mapped to in my head.  And since I'm likely to mention it on a YouTube video at some point, I'd like to know how to pronounce it.

Is it just a short form of "Characters" -- CARE-uhz?

Is it based on the term "Char," which I pronounce like the word "char" -- CHAR-uhz?

Is it Greek style -- CAR-us?

Is it some other style?  Does anyone here know?

[Prpl_Mage]

Been a discussion in the past and most people felt that it was "car-***" from the word character. Some felt it was "caress"

I started frequent the forum around the age of 12 and English isn't my first language. So I pronounce it "char-us", like charizard

[Relux the Relux]

I would presume, definitely, the first option, since this whole thing started as a CHARACTER sprite sheet generator for RPG maker 2k3.

Although, the second option sound a bit nicer, in my opinion.

[Archem]

We've had this discussion in the past. There's a bit of a divide between "care-us" and "char-us", but the founder, Alex, posted a voice clip of himself pronouncing it "Chaaaar-us". He also stated that either one was fine, and that was just his personal preference.

I'll see if I can track down the thread. It's a few years old at this point.

Found the audio clip.

[Prpl_Mage]

Found the audio clip.

Oh I remember that, shocked so many people.

And as you can tell, English isn't Alex's first language either so we can call that the European pronunciation

[zuhane]

Cha-russ proo-jinque-tuck

[Kilyle]

Found the audio clip.

Awesome!  Given he's the founder and it's a pronunciation I've been (uncertainly) using for years, I'm gonna stick with it.  (I'm from Washington State, USA, btw.  I also happen to love languages, and got annoyed by the concept of The Great English Vowel Shift.)

Though I fully support this word having multiple pronunciations, much like "mob" (those who shortened it from "mobiles" can pronounce it "mobe"; those who encountered it as a solo word outside that context, like me, can pronounce it "mob"; it's fine either way).  I'm generally a Descriptivist.  Though I am currently irritated by the way that "hearth" is being mangled by people who never encountered the word before World of Warcraft ("hurth stone"?  "heerth stone"?  it's "harth stone," like HEART!).

[Fisherson]

Care-ahs. Like Care-rect-ter. Then again I'm from the South of the US and we're not really known for finite pronunciation. <.<

[Moosetroop11]

Dude I totally forgot about that voice clip XD

[Archem]

I never forget anything.

EVER.

[Alex]

Really you don't. Best case scenario it was 8 years ago, if not more!
Maaaaaaaan... My english sounds so much better now