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How Do You Pronounce foliage?
Whether you’re a casual leaf peeper or a card-carrying botanist, a staunch New Englander or Caribbean beach bum, there’s plenty to love about foliage—though the pronunciation of foliage has long been a point of contention among English speakers. Most commonly accepted is the trisyllabic \FOH-lee-ij\. However, there’s no denying that the pronunciations \FOH-lij\ and even \FOY-lij\ have also staked their claim. The first of these disputed pronunciations is consistent with the pronunciation of the -iage ending in marriage and carriage. The second is often more fiercely denounced, in part because of its association with the nonstandard spelling foilage. But there’s redemption for this estranged pronunciation: foliage traces back to Middle French foille ("leaf"), which is also the source of the English word foil (as in "aluminum foil"). When adopted by Middle English speakers, foil originally meant "leaf." Love it or leaf it, there’s just no taking the "foil" out of foliage.
Examples of foliage in a Sentence
Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 4 Jan. 2026
The short-term impact was shocking with the loss of foliage but today, about 15 years later, the border looks beautiful and screens the neighbor’s house and yard while providing a reliable habitat for birds.
—Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 3 Jan. 2026
Plant groups of three or five rhododendrons in large shade gardens for a splash of color in spring and clean green foliage year-round.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 31 Dec. 2025
Perched atop stilts and accessed via boardwalks on the open lagoon, overwater villas not tucked into the dense foliage on land are designed to feel like serene spaces within spaces, adding to the overall transporting effect.
—Terry Ward, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for foliage
Cite this Entry
“Foliage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foliage. Accessed 8 Jan. 2026.
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