Strange Spelling and Pronunciation Items - Page 2


qu This combination of letters has some quixotic pronunciations.
  1. In quick, question, quail, quarrel, quest, quell, quit, quiet, and many others qu gets pronounced as KW.
  2. But queue gets pronounced the same as cue and quay as key. Don't ask why. Also some new words with Q now leave off the U after the Q.
ck The CK combination mostly gets pronounced as just a K with the C having no voice.
  1. Thus check is pronounced a chek, peck as pek, mock as mok, and others.
rh The RH combination generally gets pronounced as an R with the H being silent.
  1. This is true in such words as rhythm, thyme, rhyme and arrhythmia.
  2. But why rhythm gets pronounced as rith-them is anyone's guess.
gh This combination of letters has some very varied sets of pronunciations.
  1. In words such as laugh, tough, trough, enough, trough, and cough the GH gets a pronunciation of an F.
  2. In other words the GH is silent: Such as: taught, caught, sought, bought, wrought, ought, fought, haughty, naught, fight, sight, light, might, right, blight, bough, plough, dough, though, borough, furlough, and others.
  3. In some words the H in GH is silent. Such as ghost, ghoul, ghastly, afghan, Ghana, ugh, sorghum, yoghurt, and others.
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