general | April 09, 2026

Is the TH silent in Isthmus?

Isthmus. This two-syllable word, which is pronounced “is-muss,” refers to a narrow passage of land between two seas. It’s also one of the most confusing hard words to pronounce for non-native English speakers to learn. Then, to further complicate matters, the “th” in this word is silent, so you can ignore it anyway.

Which letter is silent in death?

English Words with Silent Letters

ABO
deathdebtpeople
dreaddithyrambsophomore
elementarydoubt
featherdumb

What are the silent consonant?

Sound/Symbol. Use comb, castle, ghost, knot, wrist, and eight to teach students to recognize the mb, tle, gh, kn, wr, and ght silent consonant letter combinations and hear their sounds in words.

Why is the S in Isle silent?

2 Answers. Island was long written with different spellings which didn’t include ‘s’, so it has presumably always been pronounced without /s/. (The derivation is not from Latin insula but from various Germanic forms, which also had no ‘s’.) According to Wikipedia, island comes from Middle English iland.

What is silent in word debt?

Indeed, the ‘B’ is silent in both words. Debt and Doubt are both words borrowed from Old French, originally as ‘dete’ and ‘douter’, which in turn descended from the Latin ‘debita’ and ‘debitare’.

Why is B silent in debt?

Debt is derived through the Middle English word dette, from the Old French dette or dete. They knew that the word had its origin in the Latin word debitum, and they thought it should pay homage to that word—and they had the wherewithal to slip a “b” into both the English and French versions of the word.

What is are the silent letter S in debt?

Here is a list of silent letters and the words you will find them hiding inside: Silent “b” : debt / plumber / doubt. Silent “c” : muscle / scene / scissors / Connecticut (The middle “c” is silent.)

What is silent in debt?

Originally Answered: What is the silent letter in the word debt? The ‘b’ is silent. The letter was inserted in the word by writers and scholars to show its relationship to the Latin word ‘debitum’. The word came into English from French and has already lost the ‘b’ sound by then.

Why K is silent in know?

The silent ⟨K⟩ occurs before the letter ⟨N⟩ in most cases, e.g. Knife , knot, knee, know, knowledge, knight etc. There are some exceptions which are too few to bother with. The ⟨kn⟩ combination comes from the Germanic languages where the K is still pronounced in some words.

What is silent in condemn?

Silent “g” : sign / foreign. Silent “k” : knowledge / know / knack / knock / knife. Silent “l” : talk / walk / half / folk / could / should / would. Silent “n” : column / condemn.