British people say "leftenant" because the word entered English from French ("lieu tenant," meaning "place holder") with an /f/ or /v/ sound in the first syllable, possibly from an older French dialect or misinterpretation, and this pronunciation stuck in British English, while American English later adopted a more phonetic, "loo-tenant" pronunciation, influenced by French advisors during the Revolutionary War. Both pronunciations coexisted for centuries, but spelling standardized to "lieutenant," leaving the differing pronunciations as a linguistic quirk.
In Australia, the spelling is always Lieutenant, but the pronunciation varies by service: the Army and Air Force (RAAF) use the British "lef-tenant" (/lɛfˈtɛnənt/), while the Navy (RAN) uses the American "loo-tenant" (/luːˈtɛnənt/), reflecting different service traditions. The "leftenant" pronunciation comes from historical French roots and British tradition, but the "lootenant" is also common in the US, with the RAN adopting it.
The letter Z entered English via French, where it's called zède, from Latin zeta, which itself comes from Greek zēta. Early British English stuck close to that lineage, giving us zed; which neatly fits the pattern of other letter names like bed, fed, led, red.
Such is the case with the word lieutenant. The word arrived in English from French in 1375 and within 100 years the English were pronouncing it “left-tenant” as if there were a “right-tenant” as well.
The word “clerk” comes from Old English clerc, which in turn comes from Latin clericus, meaning a member of the clergy. In Middle English, it was pronounced more like “clark” (with the vowel sound in “car”)—a reflection of how English vowels were pronounced at the time, especially in southern England.
It's just the British English way of saying lieutenant. Essentially, a Lieutenant was a place holder for their superiors. That's the correct pronunciation for the word lieutenant...
British and Commonwealth English: The use of "zed" is standard in British English and many other varieties of English spoken in Commonwealth countries (e.g., Canada, Australia, New Zealand). This pronunciation has been retained from the historical influence of French and Latin on English.
The British pronunciation of the French word "lieutenant" (as "lef-tenant") is the official pronunciation as used by the Canadian Armed Forces, but the American pronunciation of "loo-tenant" (which is closer to the original French pronunciation) is sometimes heard outside of the military.
Teniente (en. Lieutenant)
Military title held by an officer who is below the captain. The lieutenant leads a group of soldiers on the mission.
In Australia, the spelling is always Lieutenant, but the pronunciation varies by service: the Army and Air Force (RAAF) use the British "lef-tenant" (/lɛfˈtɛnənt/), while the Navy (RAN) uses the American "loo-tenant" (/luːˈtɛnənt/), reflecting different service traditions. The "leftenant" pronunciation comes from historical French roots and British tradition, but the "lootenant" is also common in the US, with the RAN adopting it.
British terms of endearment: 'Sweetheart', 'love', 'darling'... What do you call your loved one?
“G'day” What does it mean? General greeting, used instead of “hello”, both day and night. Often combined with “mate”, as in…
The -ize spelling is often incorrectly seen in Britain as an Americanism. It has been in use since the 15th century, predating the -ise spelling by over a century. The verb-forming suffix -ize comes directly from Ancient Greek -ίζειν (-ízein) or Late Latin -izāre, while -ise comes via French -iser.
Two sources, Herbert S. Zim's Codes and Secret Writing and Robert Lewand's Cryptological Mathematics, claim that x, q, and z are the letters you are least likely to encounter.
Short answer: It's a dialectal variant. Different dialects have different sounds. Longer answer: The interdental fricatives, which we represent as "th," are relatively uncommon; most of the world's languages do not have them. The "f" sound is much more common (though still not as common as something like "s").
"Space as an endless ocean" has been a metaphor about as long as humans have realized that our atmosphere is finite. Calling the spaceship fleet a Navy thereafter logically followed. Calling the power armored warriors on those ships Space Marines just made sense.
Over time the word "locum" evolved into the French word "lieu", which is pronounced in French as it is spelled. It is possible that when the English heard the French pronounce the compound word lieutenant, they perceived a slurring which they heard as a "v" or "f" sound between the first and second syllables.