English words with silent letters
Many silent letters were once spoken — the k in knight, the w in write. Others were added by scholars who wanted English to look like Latin, like the b in debt. Either way, you don’t say them.
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knight
Silent k and gh: NYTE.
Knight first sorry Knight C6 keep going so
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knee
Silent k: NEE.
-[ Shrieks ] -Uh, knee, knee, knee.
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knife
Silent k: NYFE.
Anybody got a knife? Anybody got a knife?
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write
Silent w: RYTE.
is you can write someone who can write that symphony and you can write
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wrong
Silent w: RONG.
SO WRONG. WRONG HOUSE AGAIN.
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wrist
Silent w: RIST.
You know, pop your wrist, pop your wrist.
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answer
Silent w: AN-ser.
here to figure it out for yourself. Answer in 3 Answer in 2 Answer
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sword
Silent w: SORD.
your sword whoosh sword Flame double sword flame tornado are you okay
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island
Silent s: EYE-lund.
island. his island, His island of the
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aisle
Silent s: sounds like “I’ll”.
Aisle eight, the cheese aisle.
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debt
Silent b: DET.
our level of debt right look at debt as a societal issue national debt what does
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doubt
Silent b: DOWT.
I doubt it. You doubt it?
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subtle
Silent b: SUT-ul.
very Yeah, subtle. there [laughter] is subtle.
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lamb
Silent b: LAM.
So, sheep sheep and lamb lamb.
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thumb
Silent b: THUM.
- Like thumb in? Like thumb?
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climb
Silent b: KLYME.
child after child after child it's just climb climb climb climb climb go back into work
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comb
Silent b: KOHM.
got this comb have this comb.
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receipt
Silent p: rih-SEET.
a warehouse receipt ... a mate’s receipt ...
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psychology
Silent p: sy-KOL-uh-jee.
And so I do evolutionary psychology, cultural psychology, positive psychology, so a little sociology.
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hour
Silent h: sounds like “our”.
not rush hour I was going to say rush hour one rush hour two
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honest
Silent h: ON-ist.
write this uh it was honest to God I'll to be honest completely honest
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listen
Silent t: LIS-en.
because the, because listen, listen, listen, listen. If, if you and I have a
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castle
Silent t: KAS-ul (US), KAH-sul (UK).
Castle. Warwick Warwick Castle.
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whistle
Silent t: WIS-ul.
On my whistle, begin (blows whistle).
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fasten
Silent t: FAS-en.
American idea in 1850 and to see your country fasten national slavery or seemingly fasten national
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autumn
Silent n: AW-tum.
to CalMac Ferries in autumn 2023 and autumn 2024.
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column
Silent n: KOL-um.
column so one column missing value was 99 in another column it was 9999 another column
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calm
Silent l in most accents: KAHM.
0 to 60. So like, calm, calm, calm, fight or
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half
Silent l: HAF (US), HAHF (UK).
peas here. Should we make some half and half
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walk
Silent l: WAWK.
walk down from my walk shelf yeah put it down walk shelf walk shelf yes how
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talk
Silent l: TAWK.
seeds they produce so talk talk talk about this talk about what is different between like
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should
Silent l: SHUD.
should least should do so.
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guitar
Silent u: gih-TAR.
good guitar, or a well-built guitar.
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guess
Silent u: GES.
And I guess, silky. -Yeah, I guess so, yeah.
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foreign
Silent g: FOR-in.
a program to exist to look at foreign data and foreign -- potential foreign
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sign
Silent g: SYNE.
was a sign, the West Hollywood sign. I would see that sign and I
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design
Silent g: dih-ZYNE.
No design for design's sake here.
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