eli5: Why are there “silent letters” in words if they’re not meant to be pronounced? E.g. Why spell it “plumber” instead of “plummer”?

Question

This is true for a lot of words and I don’t understand what the point of including letters if they’re not supposed to be pronounced.

In: 6

Answer 1

English spelling became standardized between 1475 and 1630: basically the reign of the Tudors, plus a few decades before and afterward. That was an era when mass-production printing became possible, and the language style used in the royal capital spread its influence over the area dominated by the rising nation-state.

Pronunciation changes happen regardless of spelling, though, and this article from the makers of the Oxford English Dictionary talks about pronunciation changes that happened after spelling became standardized:
[https://public.oed.com/blog/early-modern-english-pronunciation-and-spelling/](https://public.oed.com/blog/early-modern-english-pronunciation-and-spelling/)

Some people hate the inconsistency between English spelling and English pronunciation, but people hate even more the attempts of spelling reformers to tell them how to write.
https://www.historytoday.com/brief-history-english-spelling-reform