Everything About Words with Silent H

What are silent letters?

A silent letter in an alphabetical system of writing is a letter that in a word doesn’t really match any sound in the word’s pronunciation. A silent letter is typically represented with the null sign U+2205 EMPTY SET, in linguistics. A null segment is one that is unpronounced or unwritten. The symbol is similar to the Scandinavian letter as well as other symbols.

The significant number of silent letters is one of the notable characteristics of English spelling. Edward Carney differentiates between distinct types of “silent” letters, each of which presents readers with varying degrees of difficulty. The presence of many different silent letters is one of the most difficult features of English spelling and pronunciation.

Since English has developed from a variety of sources (Latin, Greek, French, German, Old English, and so on), it has had to absorb all of its predecessors’ spelling and pronunciation oddities. As a result, there have been numerous cases where specific letters have become silent. While it may appear that silent letters have no function in a word, this is not entirely true: silent letters can assist to separate two otherwise homophonous words, convey the meaning or origin of a word, or even aid in determining the overall sound of a word.

What is English Orthography?

The system of writing rules used to represent spoken English in written form is known as English orthography, and it allows readers to link the symbols to sound and interpretation. It covers spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation in English.

English spelling, like that of most other world languages, has a high level of standardization. When movable type was introduced to England in the late 15th century, this standardization began to emerge. Unlike other languages, however, practically every phoneme (sound) can be spelled in various ways, and most letters have multiple pronunciations depending on their position in a word and context.

What are silent consonants?

Silent consonants must be distinguished from a number of other consonant letters that are not pronounced correctly. Consonant letters that combine with a neighboring letter to generate a sound that neither would make alone or to remove ambiguity about how the other letter should be pronounced are an important subset of these. The indicated sound will be a vowel if the other letter is a vowel; otherwise, it will be a consonant.

The letters “h,” “w,” and “y,” as in oh, cow, and toy, are examples of consonant letters that join with a vowel for these purposes and cannot be termed silent.

A consonant which is written as part of the spelling of a word without being pronounced is referred to as a “silent consonant” in the English spelling system.

If that’s the case, it’s not a feature unique to English, despite the fact that the English spelling system is infamous for it.

Numerous English words contain ‘silent letters,’ which are letters that are not uttered. Consider the distinctions between the words, ‘laughter’ and ‘daughter.’ You’ll notice that the word ‘laughter’ has a ‘f’ sound, but the word ‘daughter’ does not.

A silent letter is one that is written but not spoken. There are no common guidelines or recommendations for identifying a quiet consonant. In most circumstances, we must learn both the pronunciation and the meaning of the word. Let’s look at which letters can become silent and see if there are any trends.

What is a silent H?

Many British English speakers never say /h/, others say it occasionally, but no one says it all the time; in other words, it’s a blurred line.

Most Latin-based languages have dropped the /h/ sound – you won’t find it in Spanish, French, or Italian, to name a few – and there has been a long argument about whether we need it in English whatsoever. You might ask if /h/ is just a fashion accessory tossed around by elocutionists elusively pursuing ‘correctness’ when nouns like ‘hospital’ dropped their /h/ to /sptl/, then got it back, and it just doesn’t exist in most regional dialects.

Study of origin.

This letter ‘h’ is mute in honour and its descendants (honourable, honorific, honorarium, etc.) and also honest, just at the beginning of a word. There’s also the hour and the heir.

When a commencing “w” is followed by a “h,” as in wheat, when, where, whether, whet, whey, while, whistle, and why, the “h” is silent in most versions of English.

Inside words, -ham at the end of British (not American) place names like Birmingham, Cheltenham, Tottenham, and Nottingham (all of which are pronounced /-m/) is a common silent occurrence. There is no /h/ sound in the words, vehicle (pronounced /’vi: j kl/) and shepherd (pronounced /’vi: j kl/).

Because it does not change the /t/ to //, the “h” in Thames is also known as a silent letter. In Greek terms like rhyme, rhino, and diarrhoea, the “h” following the “r” is similar.

Finally, in terms of Greek origin, such as choir, “h” is silent after “c”; it has no effect on the sound of “c.” (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). Anarchy, anchor, character, cholesterol, chorus, Christmas, chrome, epoch, orchestra, psychology, and scheme are some examples.

When is it used?

When the letter ‘h’ appears after the letter ‘g’ at the start of a word, it is usually silent, as in ghastly and ghost.

When the letter ‘h’ appears after the letter ‘r’ at the start of a word, it is always silent, as in rhombus and rhyme.

It is silent when the letter ‘h’ appears at the beginning of a word and the word creates a vowel sound, as in heir and honest.

The letter ‘h’ is always silent at the end of a word, as in ah and myrrh.

When the letter ‘h’ appears behind the letter ‘sc’ at the start of a word, it is usually silent, as in scholar and school (‘sch’ makes the /sk/ sound). (Note: When ‘sch’ makes a /sh/ sound, the ‘c’ is silent; for example, Borsch and Borscht.)

When the letter ‘h’ appears in front of the letter ‘sc’ in the same syllable of a word, it is usually silent (‘sch’ makes the sound /sk/).

When the letter ‘h’ appears behind the letter ‘w’ at the start of a word, it is usually silent, as in whack and whale.

In several words, the letter ‘h’ is silent when it appears behind the letter ‘w’ in the same syllable. Anywhere, awhile

When the letter ‘h’ appears after the letter ‘r’ in the same syllable, it is usually silent. rhythm, rhetoric

When the letter ‘h’ appears in front of the letter ‘rr’ in the same syllable, it is usually silent. gonorrhoea, arrhythmic

In some words, the ‘h’ behind the ‘c’ at the start of a word is silent. chameleon, chamomile

Silent words with a ‘h’ behind a ‘c’ at the end of a word are hierarchy and monarch.

In several words, the letter ‘h’ is silent when it appears behind the letter ‘x’ in the same syllable. (a) ‘x’ makes a /ks/ sound exhibition (b) ‘x’ makes a /gz/ sound exhibition (c) ‘x’ makes a /gz/ sound exhibition

In certain other words, the inexhausted

‘h’ is also silent in other words

Afghan, Thomas, and John are three names that come to mind.

Examples.

honest, herb, rhyme, choir, exhaust, hour, honour, rhythm, thyme, Thailand, ache, anchor, archaeology, charisma, echo, ghost, mechanic, monarchy, orchestra, psychic, scheme, tech, what, chemical, chrome, which, while, white, why, architect, chaos, character, when, where, whether, chlorine, chord, choreograph, school, stomach