English Orthography - Silent Letters

Silent Letters

Further information: Silent letter

Some letters do not provide any information about contemporary English pronunciation. For example, in Old and Middle English was an allophone of /f/ occurring between vowels. The deletion of historical final schwas (weak vowels) at the end of words such as give and have phonemicized /v/, but the now-silent ⟨e⟩ remained at the end of most /v/-final words. Words spelled with final ⟨v⟩ such as rev and Slav remain comparatively rare.

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Famous quotes containing the words silent and/or letters:

    “Even the ignorant may appear very worthy,
    If they keep silent before the learned.”
    —Tiruvalluvar (c. 5th century A.D.)

    “Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls.
    For, thus friends absent speak.”
    —John Donne (c. 1572–1631)