Linguistic experts suggest that the common mispronunciation of the Russian word for beetroot, свекла, with the stress on the second syllable, may eventually become accepted. While dictionaries currently only recognize the pronunciation with stress on the first syllable (свЁкла), the colloquial usage with stress on the second syllable (свеклА) is gaining traction.

Maria Kalenchuk, a Doctor of Philology and chief researcher at the Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, highlighted this potential shift. In an interview, she noted that the “свеклА” pronunciation is more common in everyday speech and could eventually rival or even replace the dictionary-approved “свЁкла” pronunciation.

Despite the increasing prevalence of the alternative pronunciation, dictionaries still recommend using the stress on the first syllable. For now, “свЁкла” remains the officially correct way to pronounce the word.

Kalenchuk also pointed out a similar trend with the word “звонит” (calls). According to the expert, the stress in the word “звонит” may also soon change. According to her, verbs ending in “ить” in the last 100 years have begun moving stress from the ending to the base of the word. Although the shift started later for “звонит”, the correct pronunciation remains with the stress on the second syllable for now.