silent h
Hour's invisible opener
A silent h is an h that appears in spelling but isn't pronounced.
English has many: hour, honest, heir, ghost, rhyme, thyme.
Some h's are silent only in certain positions or accents—the h in herb is silent in American English but pronounced in British.
Silent h often reflects historical pronunciation or foreign origins, particularly from French and Greek.
- hourSixty-minute span
- hour handStubby timepiece indicator
- ghostApparition of the dead
- honorHigh regard, moral dignity
- honor rollAcademic achievement roster
heir · honest · honest mistake · exhaust · phonology · pronunciation · spelling bee · elision · grapheme · linguistics · homophones · shepherd · what the heck · etymology · orthography · vehicle · Latin influence · language borrowing
- silent treatmentRefusing to speak
- fall silentStop producing sound
- silent as the tombCompletely without sound
- silent movieDialogue-free film
- be silentRefrain from speaking
- silent filmSoundless motion picture