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 easily to ignore, 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

Typical silent letters are 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).

List of examples

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

Silent A is found in: hëard, lëarn, Múrray = Mòray, nébulaê; British English words ending in -ary: sécondary, díctionary; and all BrE examples from Latin of aê: nébulaê, fŏrmulaê (where American English omits the 'a')

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

C: indîct, Tûcsón, Connécticut, blancmànge, (*bləmónzh); 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: heàrt, heàrth, yeôman; final mute as in lâte, kîte, hôpe, Jûne; in regular past tense ending as in loòked, and both of these as in hoped; síngeing (*sínjing, from sínge)

F: hâlfpenny

G: sîgn, desîgn, dèign, rèign monarch (= rain weather), campâign, fóreign, phlégm, gnásh, gnåw, gnôme, gnát, gnàrled, Colôgne

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: sûit, recrûit, frûit, jûice, sluîce, brûise, crûise, pláit, friénd, pàrliament, cárriage, márriage

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

L: càlm, bàlm, psàlm, càlf, càlve, hàlf, hàlve, fôlk, tålk, wålk, sálmon, Líncoln, hâlfpenny

M: mnemónic

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

NC: blancmange (*bləmónzh)

O: pêople léopard jéopardy Géoffrey (= Jéffrey) and all BrE examples from Latin of oê: phoênix oênólogy foêtus (where AmE omits the 'o')

P: recêipt pneumátic pneumônia psàlm pseûd ptàrmigan pterodáctyl

R: all BrE only; a small selection: îron àrm àrt céntre mürder pãir mŏre dŏor desîre squãre hîre përson Thürsday

RPS cŏrps (r sounded in AmE)

S: chássis prècis Àrkansås Íllinois îsland îsle = aîsle rendezvous (*róndâyvoô)

T: 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)

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

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

Z: lâissèz-fãire rendezvous (*róndâyvoô)