''Ough'' is a four-letter sequence, a

tetragraph A tetragraph, , is a sequence of four letters used to represent a single sound (phoneme), or a combination of sounds, that do not necessarily correspond to the individual values of the letters. In German, for example, the tetragraph ''tsch'' repre ...

, used in

English orthography English orthography comprises the set of rules used when writing the English language, allowing readers and writers to associate written graphemes with the sounds of spoken English, as well as other features of the language. English's orthograp ...

and notorious for its unpredictable pronunciation.Adam Brown, ''Understanding and Teaching English Spelling: A Strategic Guide'', 2018, , p. 214 It has at least eight pronunciations in

North American English North American English (NAmE) encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar ...

and nine in

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

, and no discernible patterns exist for choosing among them.

History

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

, ''ough'' was regularly pronounced with a back rounded vowel and a velar fricative (e.g., , , or ).

List of pronunciations

''Slough'' has three pronunciations, depending on its meaning: * (for the noun meaning a skin shed by an animal, and for the verb derived from it) * (for the noun meaning a muddy area, and for the verb derived from it. Also for the noun meaning a state of depression) * (alternative American pronunciation for the noun meaning a muddy area, and for the verb derived from it) The town of

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

in the Thames Valley of England is . An example sentence using the nine pronunciations commonly found in modern usage (and excluding ''hough'', which is now a rarely used spelling) is, "The wind was rough along the lough as the ploughman fought through the snow, and though he hiccoughed and coughed, his work was thorough." Another, slightly shorter example would be, "The rough, dough-faced ploughman fought through the borough to the lough, hiccoughing and coughing." Other pronunciations can be found in proper nouns, many of which are of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

origin (Irish, Scottish or Welsh) rather than English. For example, ''ough'' can represent in the surname Coughlin, in Ayscough, and in the name Colcolough () in the United States. The two occurrences of in the English place name

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

are pronounced differently, resulting in . Additionally, three parishes of

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

— Woughton ,

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

and Broughton — have different pronunciations of the combination. ''Tough'', ''though'', ''through'' and ''thorough'' are formed by adding another letter each time, yet none of them rhyme (in American English, however, ''though'' and ''thorough'' both have ). Some humorous verse has been written to illustrate this seeming incongruity: * "A rough-coated, dough-faced ploughman strode, coughing and hiccoughing, thoughtfully through the streets of Scarborough." * "O-U-G-H" by Charles Battell Loomis * "Ough, a Phonetic Fantasy" by William Thomas Goodge * "I take it you already know" by T. S. Watt * "Enough Is Enough" by Rosemary Chen

Spelling reforms

Because of the unpredictability of the combination, many English spelling reformers have proposed replacing it with more phonetic combinations, some of which have caught on in varying degrees of formal and informal success. Generally, spelling reforms have been more widely accepted in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and less so in other English-speaking areas. One problem is that a pronunciation with the velar fricative is still found locally in parts of North-East Scotland, where, for example, ''trough'' is pronounced . In 18th-century

, before the cheap Penny Post and while paper was taxed, the combination ''ough'' was occasionally shortened to ''ô'' when the ''gh'' was not pronounced, to save space: ''thô'' for ''though'', ''thorô'' for ''thorough'', and ''brôt'' for ''brought''. In April 1984, at its yearly meeting, the

Simplified Spelling Society The English Spelling Society is an international organisation, based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1908 as the Simplified Spelling Society. It primarily aims to raise awareness of problems caused by English orthography, English spelling ...

adopted the following reform as its house style:"The Society's 1984 Proposals"
''Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society'' (February 1988)."Tough Though Thought – and we call it correct spelling!"
. ''Simplified Spelling Society'' (1984). *Change to when it is sounded as : ''enough'' → ''enuf'', ''tough'' → ''tuf'' *Change to when it is sounded as or : ''cough'' → ''cof'' *Shorten to when it is sounded as : ''bough'' → ''bou'', ''drought'' → ''drout'', ''plough'' → ''plou'' *Shorten to when it is sounded as : ''though'' → ''tho'' (but ''doh'' for ''dough'') *Change to when it is sounded as : ''bought'' → ''baut'', ''ought'' → ''aut'', ''thought'' → ''thaut'' *Shorten to when it is sounded as : ''through'' → ''thru''

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ough (Orthography) Latin-script tetragraphs English orthography