Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
When gh occurs at the beginning of a word, it is pronounced hard (/ɡ/) as in “ghost” and “ghetto". In a few words of Greek origin, the digraph gm is pronounced /m/ , with the (g) being silent, such as in “phlegm”, “paradigm” and "diaphragm".
In English, gh historically represented [x] (the voiceless velar fricative, as in the Scottish Gaelic word loch), and still does in lough and certain other Hiberno-English words, especially proper nouns. In the dominant dialects of modern English, gh is almost always either silent or pronounced /f/ (see Ough).
A silent u can indicate a hard pronunciation in words borrowed from French (as in analogue, league, guide) or words influenced by French spelling conventions (guess, guest); a silent h serves a similar purpose in Italian-derived words (ghetto, spaghetti). A silent e can occur at the end of a word – or at the end of a component root word that ...
The English language is notorious for its use of silent letters. In fact, about 60 percent of English words contain a silent letter. In many cases, these silent letters actually were pronounced ...
gh represents /ɡ/ (voiced velar plosive) at the beginning of words (ghost), represents /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative in enough) or is silent at the end of words (sigh). ph represents /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative), as in siphon. rh represents English /r/ in words of Greek origin, such as rhythm.
The word is intended to be pronounced in the same way as fish (/ f ɪ ʃ /), using these sounds: gh, pronounced / f / as in enough / ɪ ˈ n ʌ f / or tough / t ʌ f /; o, pronounced / ɪ / as in women / ˈ w ɪ m ɪ n /; ti, pronounced / ʃ / as in nation / ˈ n eɪ ʃ ən / or motion / ˈ m oʊ ʃ ən /.
Some words contain silent letters, which do not represent any sound in modern English pronunciation. Examples include the l in talk, half, calf, etc., the w in two and sword, gh as mentioned above in numerous words such as though, daughter, night, brought, and the commonly encountered silent e (discussed further below).
Also note a combination digraph and cluster as seen in length with two digraphs ng , th representing a cluster of two consonants: /ŋθ/ (although it may be pronounced /ŋkθ/ instead, as ng followed by a voiceless consonant in the same syllable often does); lights with a silent digraph gh followed by a cluster t , s : /ts/; and compound words ...