My OED CD for what it's worth gives:

gib, n.5

(dʒɪb, gɪb)

Which seems to suggest that either one is at least common usage.

I thought perhaps the etymology of the word might point us in the right direction:

**LINK** https://etymology.en-academic.com/16822/gib

… but it further muddies the water !

.

Just skimming through that lot, I think we should rely upon whatever Webster’s of 1913 suggests.

[ no, I haven’t looked yet ]

MichaelG.

Oxford UK, Webster USA.

As does the online version of the OED. That is for British English, but apparently it is always a soft "g" in the USA.

Personally, I have always used a soft "g".

Hi, according to my Readers Digest universal dictionary, it says that gib as concerned with the machines we use, is pronounced as in gibbon & the Bee Gees surname, However Gib, (informal) Gibraltar is pronounce as jib. Whereas, jib is a triangular sail from the foretopmast head to the jib boom, or the bowsprit / bow in a small craft, or the arm of a crane / boom of a derrick, and is pronounced as Jib.

Regards Nick.

Or what’s more to the point when we’re they invented and by whom.

regards Martin

the OED has gibbe an iron hook from 1597 as part of things in a kitchen – then a gibby stick from late 18th C for a hooked stick noted as having a hard ‘g’ sound – doesn’t sound much like the modern gib

As in all language there is not a correct pronunciation, merely one in common usage which often alters through time.

Gibraltar was originally a Moorish colony named after its conquerer as Jabel Tarik…Tarik's mountain. So easy to see the corruption to Gibraltar with a soft G or J.

For what it is worth I in my ignorance employ a hard G as in Gibb.

Gib in the engineering family where I grew up & also where I did my apprenticeship with the CEGB. If it was pronounced jib it would be spelled with a J.

Jeorje

I've always pronounced it as "jib" but perhaps I'm just talking gibberish.

I wonder if there is a north/south divide in the pronunciation? I was brought up in southern England.

Russell

I'm from the south as well, and pronounce it "ji" as in gin, gibbet and gibibyte and not "gi" as in gibbon and gigabyte.

Brian G

Always been 'gib' (as in Gibson) in my experience, apart from a few (American?) you-choob videos. Sticky-up bits of cranes and the triangular sails at the front of boats are 'jibs'.

'Jigabyte' is just plain weird!

(Although 'gigawatt' is pronounced 'jigawatt' in the film 'Back to the Future' )

Edited By Andy_G on 21/09/2023 18:11:15