gy-in words of Greek etymology, is in this Dictionary marked to be pronounced with |dʒ|, in accordance with the general principle that in words of Gr. derivation (but latinized spelling) Eng. pronunciation follows the rule of the Romanic langs. for the ‘softening’ of c and g. The pronunciation |dʒ| is now practically universal in the case of those words beginning with gy- that have much colloquial currency (gymnasium, gymnast, gymnastic). Most scientific words of Greek etymology beginning with gyn- are now usually pronounced with |g| rather than |dʒ|; in particular gynæcology and its derivatives are in general use with this pronunciation.The orthoepists of the 18th c. (Sheridan, Nares, Walker) advocate the ‘soft’ pronunciation in gymnastic, but admit that prevailing usage may be against them. All the pronouncing Dicts. of the 19th c. have |dʒ| throughout, exc. Enfield, Jameson, and Cassell's Encyclopædic Dict.; the last-named restricts the ‘hard g’ to those terms of science and of classical antiquities ‘which have not passed, and probably will not pass, into general use’.