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Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cents scies scient six cents cyprès.

Meaning: An 's' / 'si' minefield.

Language: French

Literally: If six saws saw six cypresses, six hundred saws saw six hundred cypresses.

Category: Fiendish

Origin: A fiendish French numbers twister.

More tongue twisters — Fiendish

  • 隣の客はよく柿食う客だ (Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki kuu kyaku da) — A tricky spiral on ka/ki/ku that accelerates as you try to keep the syllables distinct.
  • Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril; rápido ruedan los carros sobre los rieles del ferrocarril. — The definitive Spanish rr drill — unrelenting double-r from start to finish.
  • Parangaricutirimícuaro — Not a sentence but a single word — a legendary 22-letter pronunciation challenge from a r…
  • Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
  • Hinter Hermann Hannes Haus hängen hundert Hemden raus. — A relentless 'h' aspirate drill — every word opens with the same breathy attack.
  • Chi è Ciccio Capece? Ciccio Capece è un capocaccia che caccia con la cacciaballa. — A 'c/ci/ccia' onslaught — Italian's hard and soft c in the same sentence, non-stop.

More French tongue twisters

  • Dans ta tente ta tante t'attend. — A gentle 'ta / ten / tan / t'' warm-up that sounds faster than it reads.
  • Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
  • Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
  • Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
  • Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? — A merciless duel between 'ch' and 's'.

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