Why the pronounciation of "Monsieur?"?

Question

The French word *Monsieur* meaning Mister, looks like it should be pronounced `MON-sieur`, giving effect to the *O* and *N*. But I hear it pronounced more like `MISS-sieur`. Why is that? Is it that I am hearing it wrong?There is another similar French word, which is *Monseigneur*. Is it also pronounced `MIS-seigneur`, or in the more “obvious” fashion, `MON-seigneur`? If the latter, why the difference?

Answer 1

There is no i sound replacing the on.

The prononciation of Monsieur is meu-ssi-eu

Surely it wouldn't sound like mon sieur anyway!!

In any case, I think perhaps there is a tendency for the most commonly used words and phrases in any language to acquire pronunciations which differ from the formal spelling.. or vice versa, and perhaps these are more common in French than you may think, at least in casual speech.