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In an alphabetic writing system, a silent letter is a letter that, in a particular word, does not correspond to any sound in the word's pronunciation. In linguistics, a silent letter is often symbolised with a null sign U+2205 ∅ EMPTY SET. Null is an unpronounced or unwritten segment. The symbol resembles the Scandinavian letter Ø and other symbols.

English

See also: English orthography
For historical explanations for some silent letters in English, see Phonological history of English consonant clusters.

One of the noted difficulties of English spelling is a high number of silent letters. Edward Carney distinguishes different kinds of "silent" letters, which present differing degrees of difficulty to readers.

  • Auxiliary letters which, with another letter, constitute digraphs, i.e. two letters combined which represent a single phoneme. These may further be categorized as:
    • "Exocentric" digraphs, where the sound of the digraph is different from that of either of its constituent letters. These are rarely considered "silent". Examples:
      • Where the phoneme has no standard single-letter representation, as with consonants ⟨ng⟩ for /ŋ/ as in sing, ⟨th⟩ for /θ/ as in thin or /ð/ as in then, diphthongs ⟨ou⟩ in out or ⟨oi⟩ in point. These are the default spellings for the relevant sounds and present no special difficulty for readers or writers.
      • Where standard single-letter representation uses another letter, as with ⟨gh⟩ in enough or ⟨ph⟩ in physical instead of ⟨f⟩. These may be considered irregular for writers, but less difficult for readers.
    • "Endocentric" digraphs, where the sound of the digraph is the same as that of one of its constituent letters. These include:
      • Most double consonants, as ⟨bb⟩ in clubbed; though not geminate consonants, as ⟨ss⟩ in misspell. Doubling due to suffixation or inflection is regular; otherwise, it may present difficulty to writers (e.g. accommodate is often misspelled), but not to readers.
      • Many vowel digraphs, as ⟨ea⟩, ⟨ie⟩, ⟨eu⟩ in leave (cf. accede), achieve, eulogy (cf. utopiaOne of the noted difficulties of English spelling is a high number of silent letters. Edward Carney distinguishes different kinds of "silent" letters, which present differing degrees of difficulty to readers.

        • Auxiliary letters which, with another letter, constitute digraphs, i.e. two letters combined which represent a single phoneme. These may further be categorized as:
          • "Exocentric" digraphs, where the sound of the digraph is different from that of either of its constituent letters. These are rarely considered "silent". Examples:
            • Where the phoneme has no standard single-letter representation, as with consonants ⟨ng⟩ for /ŋ/ as in sing, ⟨th⟩ for /θ/ as in thin or /ð/ as in then, diphthongs ⟨ou⟩ in out or ⟨oi⟩ in point. These are the default spellings for the relevant sounds and present no special difficulty for readers or writers.
            • Where standard single-letter representation uses another letter, as with ⟨gh⟩ in enough or ⟨ph⟩ in physical instead of ⟨f⟩. These may be considered irregular for writers, but less difficult for readers.
          • "Endocentric" digraphs, where the sound of the digraph is the same as that of one of its constituent letters. These include:
            • Most double consonants, as ⟨bb⟩ in clubbed; though not geminate consonants, as ⟨ss⟩ in misspell. Doubling due to suffixation or inflection is regular; otherwise, it may present difficulty to writers (e.g. accommodate is often misspelled), but not to readers.
            • Many vowel digraphs, as ⟨ea⟩, ⟨ie⟩, ⟨eu⟩ in leave (cf. accede), achieve, eulogy (cf. utopia).
            • The discontiguous digraphs, whose second element is "magic e", e.g. ⟨a_e⟩ in rate (cf. rat), ⟨i_e⟩ in fine (cf. fin). This is the regular way to represent "long" vowels in the last syllable of a morpheme.
            • Others, such as ⟨ck⟩ (which is in effect the "doubled" form of ⟨k⟩), ⟨gu⟩ as in guard, vogue; ⟨ea⟩ as in bread, heavy, etc.; ⟨ae⟩, ⟨oe⟩ as in aerial, oedipal. These may be difficult for writers and sometimes also for readers.
        • Dummy letters with no relation to neighboring letters and no correspondence in pronunciation:
          • Some are inert letters, which are sounded in a cognate word: e.g. ⟨n⟩ in damn (cf. damnation); ⟨g⟩ in phlegm (cf. phlegmatic); ⟨a⟩ in practically (cf. practical). If the cognate is obvious, it may aid writers in spelling, but mislead readers in pronunciation.
          • The rest are empty letters, which never have a sound, e.g., ⟨h⟩ in honor, ⟨w⟩ in answer, ⟨h⟩ in Sarah, ⟨s⟩ in island, ⟨b⟩ in subtle, the ⟨t⟩ in ballet. These may present the greatest difficulty to writers and often to readers, as well.

        The distinction between "endocentric" digraphs and empty letters is somewhat arbitrary. For example, in such words as little and bottle, one might view ⟨le⟩ as an "endocentric" digraph for /əl/, or view ⟨e⟩ as an empty letter; similarly, with ⟨bu⟩ or ⟨u⟩ in buy and build.

        Not all silent letters are completely redundant:

        • 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.
        • Silent letters may help to put weight on a certain syllable, telling the reader to put more stress on the syllable (compare physics to physiques). The final ⟨fe⟩ in giraffe gives a clue to the second-syllable stress, where *giraf might suggest initial-stress.

        Silent letters arise in several ways:

        • Sound changes occurring without a spelling change. The digraph ⟨gh⟩ was pronounced [x] in Middle English in such words as light.
        • Sound distinctions from foreign languages may be lost, as with the distinction between smooth rho (ρ) and roughly aspirated rho (ῥ) in Ancient Greek, represented by ⟨r⟩ and ⟨rh⟩ in Latin, but merged to the same [r] in English.
        • Clusters of consonants may be simplified, producing silent letters; e.g. silent ⟨th⟩ in asthma, silent ⟨t⟩ in Christmas (in conservative RP, such as that spoken by Dame Vera Lynn, the ⟨t⟩ is pronounced /krɪstməs/, as opposed to /krɪsməs/ in all other dialects). Similarly, with alien clusters, such as Greek initial ⟨ps⟩ in psychology and ⟨mn⟩ in mnemonic, an

          The distinction between "endocentric" digraphs and empty letters is somewhat arbitrary. For example, in such words as little and bottle, one might view ⟨le⟩ as an "endocentric" digraph for /əl/, or view ⟨e⟩ as an empty letter; similarly, with ⟨bu⟩ or ⟨u⟩ in buy and build.

          Not all silent letters are completely redundant:

          • 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.
          • Silent letters may help to put weight on a certain syllable, telling the reader to put more stress on the syllable (compare physics to physiques). The final ⟨fe⟩ in giraffe gives a clue to the second-syllable stress, where *giraf might suggest initial-stress.

          Silent letters arise in several ways:

          • Sound changes occurring without a spelling change. The digraph ⟨gh⟩ was pronounced [x] in Middle English in such words as light.
          • Sound distinctions from foreign languages may be lost, as with the distinction between smooth rho (ρ) and roughly aspirated rho (ῥ) in Ancient Greek, represented by ⟨r⟩ and ⟨rh⟩ in Latin, but merged to the same [r] in English.
          • Clusters of consonants may be simplified, producing silent letters; e.g. silent ⟨th⟩ in asthma, silent ⟨t⟩ in Christmas (in conservative RP, such as that spoken by Dame Vera Lynn, the ⟨t⟩ is pronounced /krɪstməs/, as opposed to /krɪsməs/ in all other dialects). Similarly, with alien clusters, such as Greek initial ⟨ps⟩ in psychology and ⟨mn⟩ in mnemonic, and the much rarer clusters in chthonic and phthalate.
          • Compound words are often simplified in pronunciation, while their spelling remains the same. For example, cupboard and breakfast were once pronounced as written, but were then simplified over time. The words forehead and waistcoat have largely reverted to their spelling pronunciations, but were once pronounced *forrid and *weskit, respectively.
          • Occasionally, spurious letters are consciously inserted in spelling to reflect etymology (real or imagined). The ⟨b'

            Not all silent letters are completely redundant:

            Silent letters arise in several ways:

            • Sound changes occurring without a spelling change. The digraph ⟨gh⟩ was pronounced [x] in Middle English in such words as light.
            • Sound distinctions from foreign languages may be lost, as with the distinction between smooth rho (ρ) and roughly aspirated rho (ῥ) in Since accent and pronunciation differ, letters may be silent for some speakers, but not others. In non-rhotic accents, ⟨r⟩ is silent in such words as hard, feathered; in h-dropping accents, ⟨h⟩ is silent. A speaker may or may not pronounce ⟨t⟩ in often, the first ⟨c⟩ in Antarctic, ⟨d⟩ in sandwich, etc.

              Differences between British English and American English

              Pronunciation

              In the US, the h in herb is silent (an herb), but in the UK, it is pronounced (a herb). The same is true for the l in solder.
              In parts of the UK, the a in dictionary and secretary is silent, but in the US, it is pronounced.

              Spelling

              In US spellings, silent letters are sometimes omitted (e.g., acknowledgment / UK acknowledgement, ax / UK axe, catalog / UK catalogue, program / UK programme outside computer contexts), but not always (e.g., dialogue is the standard spelling in the US and the UK; dialog is regarded as a US variant; the spelling axe is also often used in the US). In most words, silent letters are written in both styles (e.g., debt, guard, house).

              Other Germanic languages

              Danish

              The Danish language has two different letters that can be silent.

              The letter ⟨h⟩ is silent in most dialects if followed by ⟨v⟩, as in hvad (‘what’), hvem (‘who’), hvor (‘where’).[1]

              The letter ⟨d⟩ is usually (but not necessarily) silent if preceded by a consonant, as in en mand (‘a man’), blind (‘blind’). Many words ending in ⟨d⟩ are pronounced with a stød, but it is still considered a silent letter.[2]

              Faroese

              Spelling

              In US spellings, silent letters are sometimes omitted (e.g., acknowledgment / UK acknowledgement, ax / UK axe, catalog / UK catalogue, program / UK programme outside computer contexts), but not always (e.g., dialogue is the standard spelling in the US and the UK; dialog is regarded as a US variant; the spelling axe is also often used in the US).

              In US spellings, silent letters are sometimes omitted (e.g., acknowledgment / UK acknowledgement, ax / UK axe, catalog / UK catalogue, program / UK programme outside computer contexts), but not always (e.g., dialogue is the standard spelling in the US and the UK; dialog is regarded as a US variant; the spelling axe is also often used in the US). In most words, silent letters are written in both styles (e.g., debt, guard, house).

              Other Germanic languages

              French, including the last letter of most words. Ignoring auxiliary letters that create digraphs (such as ⟨ch⟩, ⟨gn⟩, ⟨ph⟩, ⟨au⟩, ⟨eu⟩, ⟨ei⟩, and ⟨ou⟩, and ⟨m⟩ and ⟨n⟩ as signals for nasalized vowels), they include almost every possible letter except ⟨j⟩ and ⟨v⟩.

              Vowels

              Final ⟨e⟩ is silent or at least (in poetry and song) a nearly-silent schwa /ə/; it allows the preservation of a preceding consonant, often allowing the preservation of a grammatica

              Final ⟨e⟩ is silent or at least (in poetry and song) a nearly-silent schwa /ə/; it allows the preservation of a preceding consonant, often allowing the preservation of a grammatical distinction between masculine and feminine forms in writing, e.g., in vert and verte (both ‘green’); the ⟨t⟩ is pronounced in the latter (feminine) but not the former. Furthermore, the schwa can prevent an awkward ending of a word ending in a consonant and a liquid (peuple, sucre).

              After ⟨é⟩, ⟨i⟩, or ⟨u⟩, a final ⟨e⟩ is silent. The spelling ⟨eau⟩ is pronounced just the same as that for ⟨au⟩ and is entirely an etymological distinction, so in that context, the ⟨e⟩ is silent. After ⟨é⟩, ⟨i⟩, or ⟨u⟩, a final ⟨e⟩ is silent. The spelling ⟨eau⟩ is pronounced just the same as that for ⟨au⟩ and is entirely an etymological distinction, so in that context, the ⟨e⟩ is silent.

              After ⟨g⟩ or ⟨q⟩, ⟨u⟩ is almost always silent.

              In most dialects, the letter ⟨h⟩ is almost always silent, except in the digraphs ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨ph⟩. However, in some words, an initial letter ⟨h⟩ marks an audible hiatus that prevents liaison, cf. words starting with an aspirated h. Numerous doubled consonants exist; French does not distinguish doubled consonants from single consonants in pronunciation as Italian does. A marked distinction exists between a single and doubled ⟨s⟩: doubled ⟨ss⟩ is always voiceless [s], while an intervocalic single ⟨s⟩ is voiced [z].

              The nasal consonants ⟨m⟩ and ⟨n⟩ when final or preceding a consonant ordinarily nasalize a preceding vowel but are not themselves pronounced (faim, tomber, vin, vendre). Initial and interv

              The nasal consonants ⟨m⟩ and ⟨n⟩ when final or preceding a consonant ordinarily nasalize a preceding vowel but are not themselves pronounced (faim, tomber, vin, vendre). Initial and intervocalic ⟨m⟩ and ⟨n⟩, even before a final silent ⟨e⟩, are pronounced: aimer, jaune.

              Most final consonants are silent, usual exceptions to be found with the letters ⟨c⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨l⟩, and ⟨r⟩ (the English word careful is mnemonic for this set). But even this rule has its exceptions: final ⟨er⟩ is usually pronounced /e/ (=⟨é⟩) rather than the expected /ɛʀ/. Final ⟨l⟩ is silent after ⟨i⟩ even in a diphthong (œil, appareil, travail). Final -ent is silent as a third-person plural verb ending, though it is pronounced in other cases.

              Final consonants that might be silent in other contexts (finally or before another consonant) may seem to reappear in pronunciation in liaison: ils ont [ilz‿ɔ̃] "they have", as opposed to ils sont [il sɔ̃] "they are"; liaison is the retention (between words in certain syntactic relationships) of a historical sound otherwise lost, and often has grammatical or lexical significance.

              The letter ⟨h⟩ most often marks a ⟨c⟩/⟨g⟩ as hard (velar), as in spaghetti, where it would otherwise be soft (palatal), as in cello, because of a following front vowel (⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩). Conversely, a silent ⟨i⟩ marks a ⟨c⟩/⟨g⟩ as soft where it would otherwise be hard because of a following back vowel (⟨a⟩, ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩), as in ciao, Perugia.

              See also: Hard and soft C and Hard and soft G

              Silent ⟨h⟩ is also used in forms of the verb avere

              Silent ⟨h⟩ is also used in forms of the verb avere ('have') – ho, hai and hanno – to distinguish these from their homophones o ('or'), ai ('to the') and anno ('year'). The letter ⟨h⟩ is also silent at the beginning of words borrowed from other languages, such as hotel.

              Spanish

              In the vast majority of cases, Czech pronunciation follows the spelling rather closely. There are only three exceptions:

              /j/ + consonant clusters in some words

              In most present forms of the verb být ("to be"), namely jsem, jsi, jsme, jste and jsou (i.e. all persons but the 3rd person singular je), the initial cluster /js/ is regularly simplified to a mere /s/. This pronunciation is considered correct and neutral when the verb is unstressed and used as an auxiliary. When stressed or used lexically, only the full /js/ pronunciation is considered correct. In casual speech, however, a few other highly frequent words commonly undergo similar simplification, namely all present forms of jít ("to walk") beginning with /jd/ (that is jdu, jdeš, jde, jdeme, jdete, jdou), the noun jméno ("name") and the verb jmenovat (se) ("to name, to (be) call(ed)").[5][6]

              Russian

              Several words in Russian omit written consonants when spoken. For examp

              In most present forms of the verb být ("to be"), namely jsem, jsi, jsme, jste and jsou (i.e. all persons but the 3rd person singular je), the initial cluster /js/ is regularly simplified to a mere /s/. This pronunciation is considered correct and neutral when the verb is unstressed and used as an auxiliary. When stressed or used lexically, only the full /js/ pronunciation is considered correct. In casual speech, however, a few other highly frequent words commonly undergo similar simplification, namely all present forms of jít ("to walk") beginning with /jd/ (that is jdu, jdeš, jde, jdeme, jdete, jdou), the noun jméno ("name") and the verb jmenovat (se) ("to name, to (be) call(ed)").[5][6]

              Russian

              Several words in Russian omit written consonants when spoken. For example, "чувствовать" (chuvstvovat') is pronounced [ˈt͡ɕustvəvətʲ] an

              Several words in Russian omit written consonants when spoken. For example, "чувствовать" (chuvstvovat') is pronounced [ˈt͡ɕustvəvətʲ] and "солнце" (solntse) is pronounced [ˈsont͡sə].

              Russian letter ъ has no phonetic value and functions as a separation sign. Before the spelling reform of 1918 this hard sign was written at the end of each word when following a non-palatal consonant.

              Russian letter ъ has no phonetic value and functions as a separation sign. Before the spelling reform of 1918 this hard sign was written at the end of each word when following a non-palatal consonant.

              In Hebrew language, almost all cases of silent letters are silent aleph – א.[7] Many words that have a silent aleph in Hebrew, have an equivalent word in Arabic language, that is written with a mater lectionis alif –ا ; a letter that indicates the long vowel "aa". Examples:

              • The Hebrew word for "no" is לֹא (sounds like "lo", spelled like "loa") and the Arabic word for "no" is لاَ (sounds and spelled like "laa").
              • The Hebrew word for "left side" is שְׂמֹאל (sounds like "smol", spelled like "smoal") and the Arabic word for "north" is شَمَال (sounds and spelled like "shamaal").
              • The Hebrew word for "head" is רֹאשׁ (sounds like "rosh", spelled like "roash") and the Arabic word for "head" is رَأس (sounds and spelled like "ra's").

              The explanation for this phenomenon is that the Hebrew language had a sound change of all the mater lectionis aleph letters into silent ones (see Canaanite shift). Due to that sound change, in Hebrew language, there are only two kinds of aleph - the glottal stop (/ʔ/) and the silent one,[8

              The explanation for this phenomenon is that the Hebrew language had a sound change of all the mater lectionis aleph letters into silent ones (see Canaanite shift). Due to that sound change, in Hebrew language, there are only two kinds of aleph - the glottal stop (/ʔ/) and the silent one,[8] while in Arabic language all three kinds still exist.[9]

              The silent Arabic alif is marked with a wasla sign above it (see picture), in order to differentiate it from the other kinds of alifs. An Arabic alif turns silent, if it fulfils three conditions: it must be in a beginning of a word, the word must not be the first one of the sentence, and the word must belong to one of the following groups:

              • Verbs that start with the wasla sign above it (see picture), in order to differentiate it from the other kinds of alifs. An Arabic alif turns silent, if it fulfils three conditions: it must be in a beginning of a word, the word must not be the first one of the sentence, and the word must belong to one of the following groups:

                Besides the alif of the Arabic word ال (ʔal, meaning "the"), its lām (the letter L) can also get silent. It gets silent if the noun that word is related to, starts with a "sun letter". A sun letter is a letter that indicates a consonant that is produced by stopping the air in the front part of the mouth (not including the consonant M). The Hebrew equivalent to the Arabic word ال (ʔal, meaning "the") had totally lost its L.

                In Maltese għ can be silent e.g. għar - meaning cave - and pronounced "ahr", or a voiced HH if it is followed by the or if it is at the end of a word e.g. qlugħ (q-glottal stop: qluh).[10]

                Uralic languages

                The Estonian and Finnish languages use double letters for long vowels and geminate consonants.[11]

                Turkish

                In the Turkish language, ⟨ğ⟩ often has no sound of its own, but lengthens the preceding vowel, for example in dağ ("mountain") [daː]. In other surroundings, it may be pronounced as a glide.

                Indic languages

              Tamil is a classical language phonetically characterized by allophones, approximants, nasals and glottalised sounds. Some words, however, have silent letters in them. The words அஃது (while that is), and அஃதன் (that) contain the Āytam or 'ஃ', which is not pronounced in Modern Tamil. It is explained in the Tolkāppiyam that āytam could have the glottalised the sounds it was combined with, though some may argue it sounded more like the Arabic 'خ‎' (/x/). That being said, modern words like ஆஃபிஸ் (Office) use 'ஃ' and 'ப' in sequence to represent the /f/ sound, as the āytam is nowadays also used to transcribe it and other foreign phonemes.

              Another convention in Middle Tamil (Sen-Tamil) is the use of silent vowels to address a mark of respect when beginning proper nouns. The Ramayana was one such text where the word Ramayana in Tamil always began with 'இ', as in இராமாயணம் (/ɾɑːmɑːjʌɳʌm/), though it was not pronounced. The name கோபாலன் (/ɡoːbɑːlʌɳ/) was so written as உகோபாலன் prefixed with an 'உ'.

              Malayalam