Its name in English is aitch (pronounced /ˈeɪtʃ/, plural aitches), or regionally haitch /ˈheɪtʃ/.
H
Other letters commonly used with
h(x), ch, gh, nh, ph, sh, ſh, th, wh, (x)h
What is the meaning of letter H?
h, eighth letter of the alphabet. It corresponds to Semitic cheth and Greek eta (Η). It may derive from an early symbol for fence. In the early Greek alphabets a form with three horizontal bars and the simpler form H were both widely distributed.
Is H pronounced in Greek?
breathing marks. Greek does not have a letter “H,” but it does have an “H” sound. The sound can be found in three “double letters”: theta, chi, phi (th, ch, and ph). The other place where the “H” sound can be found is at the beginning of words that begin with a vowel.
How do you memorize the letter H? – Related Questions
Where is H pronounced?
Is the H silent in H?
Silent H. H is always silent in HONOUR, HOUR, HONEST, HEIR, VEHICLE & VEHEMENT. You don’t say it after ‘g’ in GHOST, GHASTLY, AGHAST, GHERKIN & GHETTO, or after ‘r’ in RHINOCEROS, RHUBARB, RHYME and RHYTHM. It’s normally silent after ‘w’: WHAT?
The Spanish ‘H’: Always Silent. Gerald Erichsen is a Spanish language expert who has created Spanish lessons for ThoughtCo since 1998.
Did Romans pronounce H?
“H” had already become silent during Roman times — during the early empire, if not before. There were social and regional dialects of Latin, so the loss of spoken “h” in Latin did not happen in all varieties at the same time. In fact, some Latin authors made jokes about lower class speakers dropping their aitches.
Why do the British say H?
In Britain, H owes its name to the Normans, who brought their letter “hache” with them in 1066.
Why is H silent in so many languages?
The special thing about H mostly concerns European spelling. Latin had an H sound that disappeared from its modern descendants (French, Italian, etc.), but because spelling is often conservative, in many European languages, H is written even though it isn’t pronounced.
Is h silent after W?
The h is only sometimes silent. This happens often after the letter w at the beginning of a word. It also sometimes happens after the letters c, g, r, or ex-.
Is the F silent in fifth?
F. While some people do in fact pronounce the second f in fifth, the first pronunciation given in our dictionary is the one that omits it. Overall, however, f is to be commended for its performance generally. We’d give it an A, if we were on speaking terms with that letter.
Is h silent in Mexican?
There is one letter in Spanish that trips up both native speakers and new learners: H. Because it is the only silent letter in Spanish, it can be quite confusing to remember which words are spelled with an H. Don’t worry!
As we just explained above, the letter H (acca) is never pronounced in Italian. So, even in adopted foreign words, even if we write hotel, we will say /otel/, as if the H wasn’t there at all! Remember though, that the letter H in between C or G and E or I (e.i. che/chi, ghe/ghi)changes the pronunciation of the word!
Can French say H?
The letter h is not pronounced in French. This letter is a consonant and it doesn’t make any sound. Therefore, words that start with the letter h, such as honneur, hiver, and hier, are pronounced without the sound h.
Which letter is always silent?
To solve some of the problems of the learners, a few spelling sequences containing silent letters are discussed below: b is always silent in the spelling sequences mb and bt occurring in the word-final position: comb, numb, bomb, limb, debt
What letters cant be silent?
There is only one letter in the language that is never silent. Can you guess what it is? The letter is V! There are various very valuable v-words, and that V is never silent!
Which alphabet is not silent?
But as Merriam-Webster Dictionary points out, one unusual letter is never silent: the letter V. While it makes an appearance in words like quiver and vivid, you can rest assured it always behaves the exact same way.
Is Ghost a silent letter?
And the letter ‘h’ is silent in the word ‘ghost’.
Why is G 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”.