Silent and invisible letters in English

Silent letters constitute a notorious phenomenon in English: in wréstle, for example, only four out of the seven letters are actually sounded (*résl), and there can be strings of them in place names, exemplified by the trio Léicester, Glóucester and Worcester, pronounced Léster, *Glóster and *Wùster. (The accents show stress and pronunciation, see English spellings; * is placed before an incorrect spelling.)

Silent letters can be misleading, as in Thaîland and îsland, which rhyme, or they can be easy to ignore ("redundant"), as in wróng, yeôman, and lôw.

They can serve to distinguish between words that sound the same:

knôw knowledge = nô negative

knót tie = nót negative

wráp parcel = ráp knock, talk

wrîte read = rîght correct = rîte ritual

chéck verify = BrE chéque money

Some typical examples

• b finally after m or before final t (-mb -bt)
• g or k initially before n (gn-, kn-)
• gh finally or before final t (-gh -ght)
• l after à and before final f or m (-lf -lm)
• n finally after m (-mn).

Alphabetical list

Only J, Q and V are sounded in every word in which they occur.

Silent A is found in: hëard, lëarn, Múrray = Mòray; all examples from Latin of aê: nébulaê, fŏrmulaê, and in the standard British English pronunciation of words ending in -ary: sécondary, díctionary

B: thúmb, dúmb, númb, clîmb, límb, débt, dòubt, súbtle

C: indîct, Tûcsón, Connécticut, blancmànge (*bləmónzh); sometimes there is a redundant soft c after s before a front vowel: scêne, scîence, effervésce

CH: yàcht (*yót)

D before a soft g: dódge, édgy, lódging, bádger, brídge, wédge; for most speakers in Wédnesday; and before a French j in Djiboûti, Abidjàn

E: very commonly as final mute e, usually lengthening the preceding vowel, as in lâte, kîte, hôpe, Jûne; in the regular past tense ending, as in loòked, lëarned; exemplifying both of these uses, as in hoped, wâned; in heàrt, heàrth; redundant in yeôman; and in síngeing (*sínjing, from sínge, to distinguish it from sínging, from síng)

F: hâlfpenny (*hâypəny)

G: before n: sîgn, desîgn, dèign, rèign monarch (= rain weather), campâign, fóreign (BrE *fórən, AmE *fŏrən), sóvereign (BrE *sóvrin, AmE *sàvrən); gnásh, gnåw, gnôme, gnát, gnàrled, Colôgne and in phlégm

GH: sîgh, rîght, fíght, fríght, night, fŏught, ŏught, cåught, èight, wèight

H: hônour, hónest, héir, hòur, vêhicle, Jóhn, Thaîland, ghôst, ghàstly, and in the BrE name-suffix -ham: Béckenham, Chéltenham, Twíckenham

I: after u: sûit, recrûit, frûit, jûice, sluîce, brûise, crûise; in cárriage and márriage; in several unstressed -ain and -eign endings: cërtain (*sërtən), cürtain (*kërtən), Brítain (*Bríttən), fóreign (BrE *fórən, AmE *fŏrən), sóvereign (BrE *sóvrin, AmE *sàvrən); in pláit, friénd, pàrliament, business (*bíznəs), Sioux (*Soô), Sålisbury (*sålzbəri)

K, initially, before n: knôw, knêe, knîght, knít, knâve, knóll, knót, knîfe, knêad massage; redundant after c, as in báck

L: before d: coùld (*koòd, *kəd), woùld (= woòd tree, *wəd), shoùld (*shoòd, *shəd); before m: càlm, bàlm, psàlm, sálmon, Málcolm (*Málkəm); before f: càlf, hàlf, hâlfpenny; before v: càlve, hàlve; before k: fôlk, tålk, wålk, and in Líncoln

M: mnemónic

N: after m: cólumn, condémn, hýmn, åutumn, dámn, sólemn

NC: blancmange (*bləmónzh)

O: after e: pêople, léopard, jéopardy, Géoffrey (= Jéffrey) and all BrE examples from Latin of oê: phoênix, oênólogy, foêtus (where AmE omits the o); optionally in the BrE unstressed ending -borough (-brə or -bərə): Mårlborough (*Målbrə, *Målbərə), Scàrborough (*Skàbrə, *Skàbərə); and in chocolate (*chóklət)

P: before t: recêipt, ptàrmigan, pterodáctyl; before n: pneumátic, pneumônia; before s: psàlm, pseûd

R: all BrE only; a small selection: îron, àrm, àrt, céntre, mürder, pãir, mŏre, dŏor, desîre, squãre, hîre, përson, Thürsday; also in a few French borrowings like bùstièr (AmE *bùstiây, BrE *bústiay)

RPS: cŏrps (r sounded in AmE)

S: chássis, prècis, Àrkansås, Íllinois, Des Moines (*Dimŏyn), Louisville (*loôivil), îsland, îsle = aîsle, rendezvous (*róndâyvoô)

T: after s: lísten, whístle, wréstle, càstle, mústn’t; bùffèt, óften, mŏrtgage, bìdèt, Màrgot, wåltz (*wålce), bôatswain, (can be written bôsun), Tchaikóvsky, tsunàmi, and before ch in words such as ítch, cátch

U: bìscuit, cïrcuit, buíld, buŏyant, guíld, guílt, guîde, guàrd, guéss, guést, āunt

UE: tòngue, burlésque, grotésque, vâgue, rôgue, barôque, unìque, plâgue; BrE only: cátalógue, dîalógue (-lóg in AmE)

W: two 2 (= to preposition = toô many, also), who (*hû), whôle entire (= hôle space), swŏrd, ànswer, wrîte paper, wróng, wréstle, awrŷ, åwful, bôatswain (can be written bôsun), and before a consonant in the next word: knòw, nòw, yew tree (= yoû me); often in the BrE name-suffix -wích: Nórwich (*Nórrich, *Nórrij), Gréenwich (*Grénnich, *Grénnij, *Grínnij) and Hárwich (*Hárrich, *Hàrrij)—though w is pronounced and ch is always itself in Ípswich; often in the BrE name-suffix -wíck: Bérwick (*Bérrik), Ẁarwick (*Wórrik), Késwick (*Kézzik), Chíswick (*Chízzik)

X: faux-pàs (*fô-pà), Sioux (*Soô) and French plurals of -au words: cháteaux (*shátô), tábleaux (táblô)

Y: Pêpys (= pêeps), Sándys (= Sánds = sánds)

Z: lâissèz-fãire, rendezvous (*róndâyvoô)

Invisible letters

A much rarer phenomenon in English is the invisible letter, the opposite of a silent one, a letter which is pronounced but not written. An example is the invisible initial "w" of òne, which has the same pronunciation as the past tense of the verb to wín: òne 1 = wòn win.