Silent k and g
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In English orthography, the letter ⟨k⟩ normally reflects the pronunciation of [k] and the letter ⟨g⟩ normally is pronounced /ɡ/ or "hard" ⟨g⟩, as in goose, gargoyle and game; /d͡ʒ/ or "soft" ⟨g⟩, generally before ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩, as in giant, ginger and geology; or /ʒ/ in some words of French origin, such as rouge, beige and genre. However, silent ⟨k⟩ and ⟨g⟩ occur because of apheresis, the dropping of the initial sound of a word.[1] These sounds used to be pronounced in Old and Middle English.
Silent (k)
The letter ⟨
Silent (g)
While not as common, the letter ⟨
In addition, the digraph ⟨gh⟩, in the dominant dialects of Modern English, is almost always either silent (as in “bough”, “thorough”, “furlough”, “night” or "weight") or pronounced /f/ (as in “tough”, “enough“ or “laugh”). It is also occasionally pronounced [ə], such as in Edinburgh. 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".
Etymology
The ⟨kn⟩ and ⟨gn⟩ letter combinations usually indicate a Germanic origin of the word. In
Likewise, ⟨g⟩ was probably a voiced velar plosive and the initial ⟨g⟩ was not silent: for example, German Gnom, a cognate of gnome, Gneis, a cognate of gneiss, etc.
Examples
Following is a list of words that include a silent ⟨k⟩ or ⟨g⟩. Plural nouns, as well as compound nouns derived from and containing simple nouns in the list, are ignored. For verbs, only the infinitive form of the verb is given, not any conjugations or derived verbs:
⟨kn⟩Nouns |
Verbs |
Others
|
⟨gn⟩
|
See also
References
- ^ ’Scuse me, squire – ’tis just aphaeresis, Macmillan Dictionary Blog