Silent Letters in English

Rules, Patterns, Pronunciation

In this lesson I will primarily focus on silent consonants in English. I will introduce rules, patterns, and exceptions, provide examples of pronunciation, and occasionally, a bit of history where relevant or entertaining.

These lists are not complete. I have included more common words for practicality.

In most cases a letter is silent in English because we used to pronounce it. It later dropped out of pronunciation but the spelling was maintained. In other cases the word may have been borrowed from a different language like French, and the pronunciation in that language had a silent letter.

by Sarah Sherer, PhD 3/30/2023

Silent b

Pattern 1: b is silent at the ends of words when it follows m

numb, bomb, climb, aplomb, lamb, comb, thumb, succumb, limb, jamb

Why: Ease of pronunciation. Both /m/ and /b/ are pronounced at the lips. It takes extra effort to fully pronounce the /b/ after the /m/ at the end of a word.

Pattern 2: b is silent when it comes before t in these words

debt, doubt, subtle

Silent c

Pattern 1: C is silent in sc combinations before the vowel i or e. More precisely, the sc letter sequence is pronounced as /s/ in these contexts.

science, crescent, conscious, scissors, ascent, descent, descend, disciple, scent, scene, obscene, transcend, fluorescent, abscess, fascinate, miscellaneous, and muscle

Miscellaneous:

czar, indict, Connecticut, victual

Note: I do not consider indict, Connecticut, victual to follow an obvious pattern because the ct letter sequence does not always have a silent c (act, sect, etc.)

Silent ch

yacht

Silent d

Pattern 1: d is silent in d + /nz/ or d + /ns/ sequences

Wednesday, handsome

Why: Ease of pronunciation. It’s hard to pronounce a sequence of three consonants in the same place in the mouth (boney alveolar ridge behind the teeth)

Note: I do not consider judge or adjust to have a silent d. We are accustomed to thinking of the this sound with the letter j in English. However, this sound is phonetically a combination of /d/ and /ʒ/ (the sound in pleasure). Therefore, the d is technically not silent here.

Silent g

Pattern 1: If g comes before an m/n in the same syllable, it is usually silent.

design, foreign, sign, reign, align, assign, campaign, resign, champagne, diaphragm, paradigm, phlegm

Pattern 2: If a g starts a word and the next letter is n, it is silent.

gnat, gnarled, gnaw, gnostic

Silent gh

Pattern 1: gh is often silent at the ends of words and before t

thought, fight, height, light, night, eight, freight, weight, bought, sight, bright, drought, caught, right, high, weigh, bough, through, plough, though, dough

Why: The gh used to be pronounced in English hundreds of years ago. It was the /x/ consonant (like the German sound in Bach). This consonant dropped out of pronunciation but the spelling was maintained.

Note: The gh in rough, cough, and tough is not silent. It is pronounced as /f/ here, see below. These words used to have the old English /x/ consonant, same as the words in Pattern 1. The /x/ consonant in these words changed into /f/ over time in a different region in England, while it was dropped entirely in other parts of England. When the spelling was later standardized, both patterns were captured in the spelling, so that today we, confusingly, have gh in both silent and /f/ forms.

Silent h

Pattern 1: Some h’s that begin a word are silent, but not always (e.g. help, hello).

hour, herb, honest, heir, honor

Pattern 2: h is usually silent in the gh sequence when it begins a word.

ghost, ghoul, ghastly

Pattern 3: The rh sequence has a silent h at the beginnings of words.

rhapsody, rhythm, rhyme, rhetorical, rheumatism, rhinoplasty, rhombus

Pattern 4: h at the ends of words are silent.

ah, cheetah, hurrah, blah, myrrh, nah, Utah, Savannah

Pattern 5: The sch sequence has a silent h

schedule, schism, schematic, schizophrenic, school, scholarship

Pattern 6: In these words, the ch is pronounced as /k/, with no /h/ sound.

character, charisma, chamomile, chemical, chiropractor, chlorine, choreograph, chronology

Pattern 7: The exh sequence is not pronounced with /h/. It is /ɛgz/ here (sounds like eggs.)

exhaust, exhume, exhilarate, exhibit

Miscellaneous:

John, annihilate, ohm, spaghetti, thyme, Thomas, Theresa, vehicle

Silent k

Pattern 1: The kn sequence has a silent k. We used to pronounce it but it dropped out while the spelling was maintained.

know, knot, knife, knee, knight, knob, knuckle, knack, knickers, Knoxville

Silent l

Pattern 1: When l comes between a vowel and another consonant, sometimes it is omitted.

could, would, should, half, salmon, talk, walk, stalk, Lincoln, calf

Why: Ease of pronunciation. The English l after vowels is called a “dark L” with a deep groove in the tongue. It almost sounds vowel-like. There are dialects of English that often delete post-vowel /l/s, including America Southern and instead insert a vowel. In these words above, the /l/ has merely been omitted. There are just as many examples where we do not omit the /l/ after a vowel, or optionally omit it: calm, palm, halt, pulmonary, etc.

Silent n

Pattern 1: n is silent after m at the ends of words.

hymn, column, autumn, condemn, damn, solemn

Miscellaneous:

mnemonics

Silent p

Pattern 1: When p begins a word and the following letter is s, t or n, the p will likely be silent.

psychology, pneumonia, pseudoscience, pterodactyl, ptosis, pneumatic

Miscellaneous:

cupboard, raspberry, coup, corp, receipt

Silent s

Miscellaneous:

aisle, island, viscount, Arkansas, Illinois, debris

Silent t

Pattern 1: When t is in the ending sequences -stle, -sten, and -ften, it is silent.

hasten, moisten, christen, glisten, listen, whistle, bristle, gristle, thistle, castle, jostle, wrestle, rustle, bustle, often, soften

Pattern 2: Words borrowed from French, where the t comes at the end it is silent

fillet, debut, rapport, bouquet, ballet, chalet, Chevrolet, buffet, gourmet, ricochet

Miscellaneous:

mortgage, Christmas, chestnut

Silent th

There is no obvious pattern for when a th is silent.

asthma, months*, clothes* , isthmus

* In these two words, includes a th in the pronunciation is acceptable, just note that most speakers omit it in rapid speech.

Silent w

Pattern 1: Some wh sequences have a silent w and are pronounced /h/. Note that there are just as many examples of there wh is pronounced /w/.

who, whom, whole

Pattern 2: wr combinations have a silent w. There is no distinct /w/ apart from the /r/, although note that /r/ is pronounced with rounded /w/-like lips.

write, wrestle, wring, wrench, wrecked, wretched, wrong, wreathe, wrung

Miscellaneous:

answer, two, sword, toward, awry, awful

by Sarah Sherer, PhD 3/30/2023

Sources:

Mamtami, R. Silent Letters in English. http://rattanji78.blogspot.com

Millward & Hayes. A Biography of the English Language.

Mojsin. Mastering the American Accent.

Okrent, A. Highly Irregular.