This has bothered me for years and pops into my head here and there. Whenever I see the word triple my brain says it like the word “tripe” (the stomach of a cow that people eat)
Am I missing some rule that is used when it comes to spelling? Why is it Nipple and not Niple
Why no Tripple?
In: 5590
First of all, I can tell you why the i sound in ‘triple’ and ‘tripe’ don’t sound the same.
Generally, the final, silent e will jump back ONE consonant to make the previous vowel make a long sound. So ‘tripe’ ‘fire’ ‘time’ sound different to trip, fir and Tim.
If there are 2 or more consonants between the vowel and the final silent e, it won’t make the vowel long. An example of this is ‘triple’.
Of course there are always exceptions to rules in English, because it’s three languages in a trenchcoat.
As for why it doesn’t have the double P like nipple, I really don’t know, but some words ending in -ple are like that, some aren’t. Example, sample, trample, simple, pimple.
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