Heard spelling

mikropiele

Spelled micropyle. two changes at once

Two changes in mikropiele, both understandable.

The c becomes k because the sound is a k, and the y becomes ie because the sound is a long i. Micropyle keeps both original letters.

The word is a compound of mikros and pyle and both halves kept their Greek spelling when botany took them. The y in pyle is upsilon, the same letter that turns up in gynoecium and corymb, and in this word it happens to say a long i rather than a short one.

Say

MY-kroh-pile

Letters

M-I-C-R-O-P-Y-L-E