Why do so many words in English begin with a silent “p” like psychiatrist or pterodactyl?
In: 1812
Because English has changed over time. A lot of words with silent letters used to actually be pronounced without the letters being silent. Ex. “knife” was pronounced something like “k-niif-eh,” “knight” was along the lines of “k-nigt,” etc.
As such, if you were to somehow time travel to England 1000 years ago, the language would pretty much be completely foreign to you. Even 500 years ago, which is considered “Modern English,” it would be radically different (think how different Shakespeare is compared to the way people speak nowadays).
Because English has changed over time. A lot of words with silent letters used to actually be pronounced without the letters being silent. Ex. “knife” was pronounced something like “k-niif-eh,” “knight” was along the lines of “k-nigt,” etc.
As such, if you were to somehow time travel to England 1000 years ago, the language would pretty much be completely foreign to you. Even 500 years ago, which is considered “Modern English,” it would be radically different (think how different Shakespeare is compared to the way people speak nowadays).
[removed]
[removed]
[removed]
Because those words actually come from other languages and languages are… well… different.
More specifically, both of those starting sounds come from Ancient Greek where the P wasn’t silent, they would have said them.
Psy in this case comes from “Psi”, a Greek letter that looks like a fancy pitchfork. It actually does have a “ps” sound that we, in Modern English, often drop because start a word with a “Puhss” sound is awkward, but when you have it in the middle of a word, we have kept the “puhs” sound, for example in the word “Lapse”. that “pse”-bit is just showing we have a “psss” sound in Modern English, we just don’t like to start words with it.
Similarly with Pterodactly, the “pter” bit, which is Greek for “wing” does technically have a “puh-tt” sound, we’ve just dropped the “puh” because it sucks when it’s in the beginning of a word. Exactly like Psy though, we *do* pronounce the puh when it’s in the middle of a word, such as in “Helicopter”, “Helico” meaning spinning and “pter” meaning wing. (that’s the same ‘pter’ in Helicopter as in Pterodactyl – meaning “wing fingers”)
Because those words actually come from other languages and languages are… well… different.
More specifically, both of those starting sounds come from Ancient Greek where the P wasn’t silent, they would have said them.
Psy in this case comes from “Psi”, a Greek letter that looks like a fancy pitchfork. It actually does have a “ps” sound that we, in Modern English, often drop because start a word with a “Puhss” sound is awkward, but when you have it in the middle of a word, we have kept the “puhs” sound, for example in the word “Lapse”. that “pse”-bit is just showing we have a “psss” sound in Modern English, we just don’t like to start words with it.
Similarly with Pterodactly, the “pter” bit, which is Greek for “wing” does technically have a “puh-tt” sound, we’ve just dropped the “puh” because it sucks when it’s in the beginning of a word. Exactly like Psy though, we *do* pronounce the puh when it’s in the middle of a word, such as in “Helicopter”, “Helico” meaning spinning and “pter” meaning wing. (that’s the same ‘pter’ in Helicopter as in Pterodactyl – meaning “wing fingers”)
Because those words actually come from other languages and languages are… well… different.
More specifically, both of those starting sounds come from Ancient Greek where the P wasn’t silent, they would have said them.
Psy in this case comes from “Psi”, a Greek letter that looks like a fancy pitchfork. It actually does have a “ps” sound that we, in Modern English, often drop because start a word with a “Puhss” sound is awkward, but when you have it in the middle of a word, we have kept the “puhs” sound, for example in the word “Lapse”. that “pse”-bit is just showing we have a “psss” sound in Modern English, we just don’t like to start words with it.
Similarly with Pterodactly, the “pter” bit, which is Greek for “wing” does technically have a “puh-tt” sound, we’ve just dropped the “puh” because it sucks when it’s in the beginning of a word. Exactly like Psy though, we *do* pronounce the puh when it’s in the middle of a word, such as in “Helicopter”, “Helico” meaning spinning and “pter” meaning wing. (that’s the same ‘pter’ in Helicopter as in Pterodactyl – meaning “wing fingers”)
Because English has changed over time. A lot of words with silent letters used to actually be pronounced without the letters being silent. Ex. “knife” was pronounced something like “k-niif-eh,” “knight” was along the lines of “k-nigt,” etc.
As such, if you were to somehow time travel to England 1000 years ago, the language would pretty much be completely foreign to you. Even 500 years ago, which is considered “Modern English,” it would be radically different (think how different Shakespeare is compared to the way people speak nowadays).
Helicopter is not from the root words Heli and Copter. It is from the root words Helico and Pter, meaning corkscrew shape and wing/feather.
Latest Answers