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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Is the ‘t’ in ‘witch’ considered a silent t?
I was under the impression that because ‘witch’ ends with a /tʃ/ sound, the ‘t’ is not silent but directly represents an essential element of the pronunciation.
However, a word game (the New York ...
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Why is there a ‘silent e’ in the word ‘minute’ (as in minutes and seconds)? [duplicate]
In researching the silent e, is the silent e added to the end of the word minute (as in minutes and seconds) to indicate the schwa sound of the u? Or was the silent e pronounced at some point?
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Silent "e" at the end of words
Back in 2009, a job interviewer sent me a link to a web service that would help me make a free telephone call via the internet... Skype. As a native speaker, I knew "instinctively" to pronounce this "...
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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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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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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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To T or not to T in "Oft"
I don't pronounce the "T" in "often", and while I realize this is primarily a matter of preference in modern days, there is some historical precedent and plenty out there on ...
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Is there a term for the silent letters in a word?
Such letters are employed in spelling but are not pronounced, and English offers a wealth of examples more than any other language .
most final "b's" preceded by "m" (dumb, climb, thumb, etc)
most "k'...
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How did the "h" get in "gherkin"?
I've recently taken an interest in silent letters, and I discovered that the letter h in ghost was inserted by a faulty printer. On a search for similarly romantic etymologies, I ran into gherkin, ...
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Are there any English words starting with a silent vowel requiring "a" before it (not "an")?
Title says it all. We all know there are instances of the other way around, such as "an hour," but I'm curious if any exist. I couldn't think of any.
Like "a orange" if "...
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When should I use "a" versus "an" in front of a word beginning with the letter h?
A basic grammar rule is to use an instead of a before a vowel sound. Given that historic is not pronounced with a silent h, I use “a historic”. Is this correct? What about heroic? Should be “It was a ...
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Why is the word "folks" pronounced [foʊks]?
Why is the word folks sound like it’s pronounced [foʊks] rather than [fɔɫks]? It’s as though people are thinking it’s spelled fokes.
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Is the D in words like Fridge and Bridge silent?
The other day, I was discussing the pronunciation of fridge with friends on a social media group. They insisted that the d in fridge is completely silent. Is that so? I have always said it with a ...
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Why is the L silent in "walk" but not in "bulk"?
TL;DR
Why is the letter L silent in walk, talk, calm, folk, half, chalk etc but not silent in bulk, hulk, milk, silk, bold, bald?
Explanation of the question and Research:
The letter L seems to be ...
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Is the T in "national" ever pronounced?
As a non-native English speaker, I just realised that I have probably been pronouncing the word "national" wrong for 20+ years.
I have been pronouncing the "t", kind of like "...
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Is the letter u silent in draught?
I know that this word is pronounced as /dra:ft/ but do we consider the u to be silent?
I have heard of 2 rules for silent u
1-when u comes after g
2-when u comes before a vowel
but none of them apply ...
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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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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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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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"'A' HSBC branch" or "'An' HSBC branch"? [duplicate]
The general rule says 'a' should be used if the 'h' makes a sound, e.g., "a horse" vs "an hourglass", or (somewhat debated) the first syllable is not stressed, e.g., "an hotel&...
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What does the grapheme 'm̃' (m with a diacritical tilde) mean in English? Was it in use?
In a historical English book published in 1875, the grapheme 'm̃' (m with a diacritical tilde) is used in the title.
Ye parish of Cam̃erwell :
a brief account of the parish of Camberwell : its ...
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Should the first h in Nehemiah be silent? If so, why?
I hear many native speakers do not pronounce the first h in Nehemiah. However, I also found a video pronouncing this h. I am wondering about the correct pronunciation of Nehemiah in English.
This ...
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Is "ageing" the only exception?
have, having
love, loving
make, making
take, taking
give, giving
hate, hating
strive, striving
Etc. When a verb in its lemmatic form ends with "-e" then its present participle omits that letter.
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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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Does the suffix -ify have any inherent characteristics of making letters pronounced which would otherwise be silent?
It is quite clear that the word "signify" is derived from sign and the suffix -ify:
sign + -ify = signify
The letter "g" in the word sign is silent but when the suffix is added, ...
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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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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 N silent in "solemn" but pronounced in "solemnity"
Solemn → /ˈsɒləm/: It has only /-m/
Solemnity → /səˈlɛmnɪti/: it has both /m/ and /n/ (/-mn-/)
Looking up their etymology didn't help much. But here is what etymology dictionary says:
solemn:
... ...
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Why is the P silent in "coup" and "corps"?
Corps = /kɔː(r)/: the PS is silent
Coup = /kuː/: the P is silent
Corps
Etymology Dictionary says "from French corps d'armée (16c.), which apparently was picked up in English during Marlborough's ...
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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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Silent /t/ usage on short words? [duplicate]
The censorship on Stackoverflow will kill the platform and it's elitist snakes will be haunted.
Consider following words,
Its
At
That
What
I often hear them as,
I/?/s
Aa
Tha/?/
Wha/?/
I'm ...
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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 second "t" silent in the word "twenty"? [duplicate]
I have always pronounced the word "twenty" as "twen·tee" and taught my daughter accordingly. But she told me that her pre-kindergarten teacher pronounced it as "twen·nee",...
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Why is it "argument" instead of "arguement"?
Why would you replace the <e> in argue before affixing <-ment>?
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Why do we spell the word “who” with a silent “w” when it isn’t needed?
If we spelled who without the W – making it ho like with do and to — it could still make sense, so why is there a silent W in the word who?
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Why is there a ‘w’ in the word ‘Answer’? [closed]
This might sound silly. I understand ‘w’ is silent. But what purpose does ‘w’ serve? Why is it important to have ‘w’ in there? Why not just ‘Anser’ like it’s pronounced?
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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 there an etymological explanation for the silent ‘g’ in “paradigm”?
Whenever I come across the word paradigm, I have to make a small conscious effort not to pronounce the letter ‘g’.
In Italian, it is spelled paradigma and each letter is individually pronounced i.e. ...
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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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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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Why is the plural form of piano "pianos" and not "pianoes"?
The rule says that if a singular noun ends in consonant + "o" then the plural form will be consonant + "oes".
e.g. tomato => tomatoes.
Then, why this rule does not apply to piano?
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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 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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Which word has a silent B at the start? [duplicate]
According to this Guardian article, about the book “P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever”, there is one word in the English language which starts with a silent B. Unfortunately, they don’...
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What is the importance of silent letters in English language? [duplicate]
How did the usage of silent letters came into being? For example : what is the use of 'k' in knife or 'p' in pneumonia ?
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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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How is y’all’dn’t’ve pronounced
According to Wikipedia, y’all’dn’t’ve is a valid contraction.
I am having difficulty pronouncing the L-D-N-T-V consonant cluster, especially since there is no vowel at the end (silent E). Y’all’dn’t’...
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Is there a word spelled with a silent B at the start?
My dad and I were playing a game in the car where we picked a letter and then each alternated saying a word that started with that letter. We did it with b, for example, it might go:
Dad: bath
me:...
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Silent-letter U in the word Vagueries [closed]
When pronouncing the word vagueries, is the U silent or pronounced as in the British pronunciation of jaguar?
The context is the sentence ”The rebuttal was replete with so many vagueries as to be ...
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