How to pronounce awk

awk is most commonly pronounced "auk" (/ɔːk/). This pronunciation is documented by the project itself (see Wikipedia § Origin of the name).

"auk" — like the seabird, rhymes with "hawk". Named after creators' initials (Aho/Weinberger/Kernighan); pronunciation confirmed in original AWK book.

Source: Wikipedia § Origin of the name

Pronouncing project and product names correctly avoids the small but persistent friction of being gently corrected during standups, conference Q&As, and team calls. Hearing the word a few times locks in the right reading better than reading IPA ever will. Pronounce is a community-maintained dictionary — every entry tagged with a confidence level and (where possible) a citable source.