What is the silent letter in pneumonia?

‘Pneumonia’ caused when you catch excessive cold also has a silent p, so it is pronounced ‘new-moan-ee-a’. Finally, you’ll every now and then find a silent p in the middle of a word, such as ‘receipt’.

What are the silent letters in the word knowledge?

Like: Knife, know, knee, knock, knot, knowledge. The letter ‘L’ can be silent too and it’s quite common when you look at this list.

What are silent letters examples?

In English pronunciation, a silent lettera term used informallyis a letter or letter combination of the alphabet that is usually not pronounced in a word. Examples include the b in subtle, the c in scissors, the g in design, the t in listen, and the gh in thought.

What is the silent letter in yacht?

Why is the T in Christmas silent?

As for the silent “t” in Christmas, McCawley explained that the “t” was once pronounced in words such as “Christmas,” “glisten,” “listen,” “mistletoe” and “soften.” (The pronunciation of the “t” in “often” by some speakers today is a remnant of this practice.)

What is silent hour?

Silent H. H is always silent in HONOUR, HOUR, HONEST, HEIR, VEHICLE & VEHEMENT. You don’t say it after ‘g’ in GHOST, GHASTLY, AGHAST, GHERKIN & GHETTO, or after ‘r’ in RHINOCEROS, RHUBARB, RHYME and RHYTHM.

What is the purpose of silent letters in words?

Silent letters can distinguish between homophones, e.g. in/inn; be/bee; lent/leant. This is an aid to readers already familiar with both words. Silent letters may give an insight into the meaning or origin of a word; e.g. vineyard suggests vines more than the phonetic *vinyard would.

Who invented silent letters?

As Carson Cole points out, “silent letters’ were originally pronounced. As languages meshed and migrated from land to land and culture to culture, spoken and written words did not always match. Letters are merely representations of the spoken word. In most Indo-European languages every letter is uttered, in general.