Questions tagged [silent-letters]
A silent letter is a letter that, in a particular word, does not correspond to any sound in the word's pronunciation.
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What is the parenthetical plural of "baby"? [duplicate]
A letter home from daycare may be sensitive to the fact that some children have a single parent like this:
Dear Parent(s),
And if that same letter home wanted to be sensitive to the fact that I ...
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Is it "policy(ies)" or policy(s)" for an optional, parenthetical plural suffix? [duplicate]
When writing a noun that shows a parenthetical plural suffix option, which is acceptable, "policy(ies)" or policy(s)"?
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How do "you" pronounce eczema?
/ˈɛɡzɪmə/, /ˈɛksɪmə/, /ˈɛksmə/
As I no longer live in the UK I don't usually hear how eczema is pronounced, so I've always pronounced it as ig-zee-muh but recently my English boyfriend told me that ...
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Is it "togglable" or "toggleable"?
The dialect is American English, but I'd be interested to know if this varies between dialects. Is it"togglable" or "toggleable"? Because neither dictionary.com, webster.com, nor Outlook's spelling ...
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Why are there some inert letters?
My original question was: why is ⟨g⟩ is silent in phlegm but not in its derivatives like phlegmatic? After a research, I was linked to the Silent letter wiki:
Some are inert letters, which are ...
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What is the most "hardworking" letter in the English alphabet? [closed]
I hope I am not being pedantic; however, I could not come up with an answer on the internet.
I wonder which is the letter which can be discriminated from the
alphabet system on the basis of its ...
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The etymology of February
According to my dictionary, the word February originates directly from Middle English "Feverer" from Old French "Feverier" yet the Modern English word more closely resembles the original Latin ...
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Is there any rule of silent initial letters in English? [duplicate]
Mostly we some times uses silent words like knife, knock, knee etc i want to know is there any law in english please also inform me why these are silent? I am a new english language learner.
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Silent letters in English [closed]
With the help of dictionaries, I’ve assembled a list of letters that can be silent in English:
For most letters, I found more than one example, what are the other examples of a silent z (rendezvous)...
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Why is "cupboard" pronounced with a silent "p"?
According to Google at least, the word "cupboard" originated in late Middle English as denoting a board that held cups. Since then, the word has evolved to mean a kind of cabinet.
My question is, ...
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In the word "Scent", is the S or the C silent?
So I saw a post on a funny pictures site...
"In the word "Scent", is the S or the C silent?"
In particular, how does the pronunciation of "scent" differ from "cent" and "sent"?
Small audio ...
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Entry(s) or Entrie(s)? [duplicate]
Sometimes you come across this format suggesting 'one or more', in not as many words, like "Please select the book(s) you wish to loan". But what happens in that case of plurals that don't follow the ...
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Last names that are English words with an extra 'e'
I noticed that there are a lot of last names that have an 'e' at the end. The pronunciation usually isn't changed from that of the base word.
Poole
Steele
Browne
Clarke
Why do English words not ...
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Adding "-ing" to a verb ending with a pronounced "e"
When a verb ends with a "e" that is pronounced, do you get rid of the "e" when you add "-ing"?
For example, would you say "His karaoking last night was really unique", or "His karaokeing last night ...
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Algorithm to determine if an "e" in a word is silent
I'm working on a software that requires me to know if an "e" in a word is silent or not. I thought of using Artificial Intelligence and pattern recognition to determine if the "e" is silent. The AI ...
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Why are "some" letters silent in English? [closed]
There are many such words that we all know about, but please explain why the makers of the English language made up words with silent letters?
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Why doesn't the silent "e" work on "infinite"? [duplicate]
Why doesn't the silent "e" work on the word "infinite"?
What I mean is, why does mate have a long "a", but infinite has a short "i"?
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What's the right way to pronounce "Louis"?
The name of the comedian Louis C.K. is pronounced LU-EE-SEE-KAY.
Is the S pronounced as a part of the given name "Louis", or just the first constant of the of the letter C?
Is there a canonical way ...
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Parenthetical plurals of nouns with stems that are written differently in singular and plural [duplicate]
Related Question that I don't like the answer to because it conflicts with my industry's standards (see bottom of post).
Edit: I asked a new question because I'm looking for an answer, not an ...
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If a letter isn't pronounced but affects pronunciation of other letters, is it still 'silent'?
The 'e' in paste isn't pronounced on its own, but changes the pronunciation of the 'a'.
In that case, is the 'e' still referred to as silent?
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Is it "falsy" or "falsey"?
I have seen both spellings of this word, falsy and falsey.
It can mean "something that is equivalent to false" in computer science, such as "The only two falsy values in the Ruby Language are false ...
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Pterodactyl and Archeopteryx: Silent P vs Voiced P
These words share the Greek root πτέρυξ (pteryx), meaning feather/wing, but the P in pterodactyl is silent (in the initial position), while the P in archeopteryx (in the middle of the word) is voiced.
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Why is the “L” silent when pronouncing “salmon”?
Why is the letter l silent when pronouncing salmon properly?
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Silent "w" in words starting with "wr-"
My eldest is a beginning reader. Yesterday we read one of my favorite books, The Wreck of the Zephyr. He pointed at wreck and asked me why that one looked like it said "wuh-reck." I explained that ...
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is letter “y” derived from “ij”?
It is my intuition, that the origin of the letter y comes from ij based on the usage in Dutch where it very closely resembles ij in both sound and shape. I would go so far as to say it looks like a ...
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What is the optional plural form of a word that ends in “‑y”?
I guess “optional plural” is the correct term. I’m referring to things like
It can be found at the following location(s).
Please pick up your ticket(s).
But how do I do that to a word that ends in&...
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Why does a silent "-e" at the end of a word lengthen vowels?
There's a common pattern in English spelling where "short" vowels are pronounced as "long" vowels with the addition of a silent "e" at the end of the word.
E.g.
bit → bite
mat → mate
pet → pete
Is ...
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Pronunciation of 'host' in Shakespeare's time
Listening to the recent film production of Macbeth with Patrick Stewart, I noticed that Duncan says:
Give me your hand. Conduct me to mine host.
Obviously, it's in the text (Act 1, Scene 6). I'm ...
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"Updatable" vs. "Updateable": which is correct?
Which spelling is correct, "updatable" or "updateable"?
For example, "The file is not updat(e)able."
By the way, I did go to Google and ref.dic.com for this first, and they both seem to indicate ...
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Is it correct to put "bros" before "hos" or before "hoes"?
I'm wondering about the pluralisation of "ho" (as in slang for prostitute) in the phrase "Bros before ho(e)s". To me, hos makes sense because it's consistent with bros. Hoes could also refer to a ...
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Consonant transposition: Why is "Wednesday" pronounced "Wensday"?
It appears like a couple of consonant sounds have been transposed. How, why did that happen?
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Parenthetical pluralization of words ending in '-y' [duplicate]
Sentences constructed with a word written in the singular and parenthetically in the plural are straightforward when that word does not end in -y, e.g.:
List all applicable employee(s).
How does ...
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How did the silent 't' come into all these 'tch' words?
I'm curious as to how so many words with the 'ch' sound have the silent 't' in them. Catch, itch, retch, hatchet, botch etc. The list is huge.
They all have different origins, and yet they have the ...
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Why doesn't "ninth" have an "e", like "ninety"?
Is it just because "ninth" has only one syllable? That wouldn't make sense, though, because saying "NINE-ith" wouldn't be worse than saying "NINE-e-tee". If we were used to "nineth", we would have ...
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Why do "able" and "haste" have long a's?
(There are others, such as table, paste, and baste.) The rule I've heard is that a vowel is made long when succeeded by a consonant and then another vowel. Some words treat double consonants as a ...
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What does the grave accent mark on words mean?
What exactly does the grave accent mean in English?
An example from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30:
The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan
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"Pricey" vs. "Pricy"
I've recently encountered these two variations of the spellings for the informal word for "expensive." My dictionary and the online dictionary seem to indicate that both of these spellings are correct,...
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Where did the "ue" in "tongue" come from?
How I remember being told over and over how to spell tongue! I didn't understand it then; I don't understand it now. What evolution might put a silent "ue" at the end of a word?
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Why is the 'w' silent in "sword"?
In RP English, the 'w' in "sword" is silent. Wiktionary suggests /sɔːd/ and /soʊrd/.
Why? Are there other words like this? The 'w' is pronounced in words like "swollen", "swoop", "sworn" and "swore".
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Should I abbreviate word starting with “kn” as “K” or “N”?
Imagine you're abbreviating a title that has a kn-word in it (e.g. Should Know).
What is the preferred way? Is it SK or SN?
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Is 'r' in Br/Amr pronunciation of Arjmand (Persian word) silent?
Is 'r' in Br/Amr pronunciation of 'Arjmand' (Persian word) silent?
(In other words, how is this word pronounced in Br/Amr English?)
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How should "often" be pronounced? [closed]
I heard people saying "Of-fen" as well as "Of-ton".
Till now I have been using the first one but few days ago I had an interviewer who pronounced often "Of-Ton" while interviewing.
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Pronunciation of "cache"
I have been pronouncing the word "cache" as kaysh. I know a few people who pronounce it more like cash, cashay or even catch. After consulting a few dictionaries, it turns out that the correct ...
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Is there a good rule of thumb for plurals of words ending in "o"?
The following words and their plurals seem to be somewhat inconsistent:
combo / combos
concerto / concertos
grotto / grottos / grottoes (?)
hero / heros (?) / heroes
potato / potatos (?) / potatoes
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Why is the "a" in "cocoa" silent?
Not being a native speaker of English, one of those words that tripped me up is “cocoa”. Besides having its vowels inverted from “cacao”; it also is pronounced exactly the same as “coco”, whereas “...
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Why does English spelling use silent letters?
Why have a letter in a word when it’s silent in pronunciation, like the b in debt?
Can anyone please clarify my uncertainty here?
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Aspirated letters vs. Silent letters
How are aspirated letters different from silent letters when pronouncing a word?
user1784
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What is the plural form of "zero"?
I tried looking on Google, but there are some fairly contradictory results.
I thought I'd ask you guys so we could get an authoritative answer on the subject!
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When should a singular word ending in "y" end in "ies" plurally?
Words like "sky" and "money" have "ies" as a plural suffix (i.e. "skies" and "monies") but other words like "monkey" and "Emmy" do not ("monkeys" and "Emmys"). Is there a rule dictating the use of "...
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Is the proper spelling “judgment” or “judgement”?
I always thought the proper spelling was judgment, but I see judgement all the time, even in articles, news, etc. Merriam-Webster lists judgement as a variant spelling for judgment.
But is the ...
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