Can the letter G be silent?

Silent (g) While not as common, the letter ?g? is also usually silent (i.e. it does not reflect any sound) when preceding an ?n? at the beginning or end of a word, as in “gnat”, “campaign” and “design”.Click to see full answer. Consequently, what words have a silent G? Study the word list: Silent g…

Silent (g) While not as common, the letter ?g? is also usually silent (i.e. it does not reflect any sound) when preceding an ?n? at the beginning or end of a word, as in “gnat”, “campaign” and “design”.Click to see full answer. Consequently, what words have a silent G? Study the word list: Silent g words gnome We hide a spare key under the garden gnome. gnat A gnat is a small biting insect. gnu The gnu is an African antelope. gnash Did you hear the dog gnash his teeth? gnarled The trunk of the old tree was gnarled. Likewise, is the G in Gnome silent? The ‘h’ was pronounced in the middle of a word in Old English and its spelling changed to ‘gh’ in Middle English when it was preceded by a vowel. Other words of Greek origin such as gnomon, gnostic, and gnosis the ‘g’ is silent but in prognosis, the ‘g’ is instead pronounced. Simply so, why is the G silent in sign? It has to do with syllabification in English. In “signature” the “g” and the “n” actually fall in different syllables, so they are both pronounced; while in “sign,” they are in the same syllable so the “g” is silent. Because there is no vowel follow the n in sign for one.Why do we not pronounce the k in knife?It is not conclusively known why this occurred. However, some researchers believe it was due to the influence of Latin and French during this period, as these languages did not include the ‘kn’ cluster. This resulted in the ‘k’ being mispronounced or not pronounced and gradually eliminated.

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