nonphonetic
Letters lie here
Nonphonetic describes writing systems or spellings where letters don't reliably correspond to sounds.
English is famously nonphonetic—the letters *ough* represent different sounds in *through*, *though*, *tough*, and *cough*.
A nonphonetic spelling must be memorized rather than sounded out: English has many nonphonetic words like "colonel" and "queue".
Britain's native tongue
- FrenchOf or from Paris's nation
- GaelicCeltic linguistic tradition
- DanishOf Denmark
- TibetanOf a Himalayan region
Khmer · writing system · graphemes · script · alphabet · notation · characters · symbols
Deviating from normal patterns
- inconsistentLacking steady uniformity
- unpredictableCannot be anticipated
- exceptionsCases not following rules
- silent lettersSpelled but not voiced
anomalous · unstandardized · idiosyncratic · quirky · aberrant · deviant · atypical · unconventional
English
Britain's native tongue
Tibetan · Khmer · writing system · graphemes · script · alphabet · notation · characters · symbols · representation
irregular
Deviating from normal patterns
- inconsistentLacking steady uniformity
- unpredictableCannot be anticipated
- exceptionsCases not following rules
silent letters · anomalous · unstandardized · idiosyncratic · quirky · aberrant · deviant · atypical · unconventional · illogical
knight
Honored mounted soldier
rhythm · queue · debt · subtle · receipt · island · indict · choir · champagne · bourgeois