Silent and invisible letters in English

Silent letters constitute a notorious phenomenon in English: in wréstle, for example, only four out of the seven letters are actually sounded (*résl), and there can be strings of them in place names, exemplified by the trio Léicester, Glóucester and Worcester, pronounced Léster, *Glóster and *Wùster. (The accents show stress and pronunciation, see English phonemes. * is placed before an incorrect spelling.)

Silent letters can be misleading, as in Thaîland and îsland, which rhyme, or they can be easily to ignore, as in wróng, yeôman, and lôw. They can serve to distinguish between words that sound the same:

knôw knowledge = nô negative

knót tie = nót negative

wráp parcel = ráp knock, talk

wrîte read = rîght correct = rîte ritual

chéck verify = BrE chéque money

Typical silent letters are b finally after m or before final t (-mb -bt); g or k initially before n (gn-, kn-); gh finally or before final t ( -gh -ght); l after à and before final f or m (-lf -lm); n finally after m (-mn).

List of examples

Silent A is found in: hëard lëarn Múrray = Mòray nébulaê; British English words ending in -ary: sécondary díctionary; and all BrE examples from Latin of aê: nébulaê fŏrmulaê (where American English omits the 'a')

B: thúmb dúmb númb clîmb límb débt dòubt súbtle

C: indîct Tûcsón Connécticut blancmànge (*bləmónzh); after s before a front vowel: scêne scîence effervésce

CH: yàcht (*yót)

D before a soft g: dódge édgy lódging bádger brídge wédge; for most speakers in Wédnesday; and before a French j in Djiboûti Abidjàn

E: heàrt heàrth yeôman; final mute as in lâte kîte hôpe Jûne; in past tense ending as in loòked and both of these as in hoped; síngeing (*sínjing, from sínge)

F: hâlfpenny