Why does the English language have so many words where one or more letters are silent. For example why couldn’t “Knife” be simply written as nife or whatever combination of letters that make pronunciation obvious.

Question

Why does the English language have so many words where one or more letters are silent. For example why couldn’t “Knife” be simply written as nife or whatever combination of letters that make pronunciation obvious.

In: 2529

Answer 1

There’s a great line from a made-for-tv movie about Walter Winchell:

“English is a bastard, with too many illegitimate parents. From the Romans, to the Celts, to the Anglos, to the Saxons, to the Normans, to the Puritans, to the Irish, to the Slavs, French, Jews, all the way to Walter Winchell. English is the biggest, ugliest bastard you’ll ever meet.”