F (letter)

F is the sixth letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced eff.

Use in English

F is a labiodental fricative, air being pushed through the upper teeth and lower lip. It is an unvoiced v (compare feŵ and vieŵ: the accents show pronunciation: see English phonemes): fún, féather, férry, fîght, forty, fífty, fílth, fíckle, fád, flóp, frét, físt, óff, óften (*offen) fát, fïrst, déaf, friénd.

It likes to double itself at the end of words, after a single vowel letter: óff, stúff, clíff, whíff, múff though not always: íf, óf (*ov) déaf (two vowel letters). And also in the middle of words: ráffle, óffer, íffy, báffle, éffort, Clífford, múffle, stúffing, stúffed.

F begins consonant clusters: Áfghan, aflôat, frîght, shíft.

The f sound, however, is spelt ph in words from Greek: epíphany, Dáphne, grāph, élephant; however, Stêphen is pronounced exactly like its variant spelling Stêven.

In some words the f sound is written gh: enoúgh tróugh. Full details can be found in the section on h.

See also

• Letter (alphabet)
• Alphabet
• Writing system
• Orthography
• Written language
• Writing