Why English Words Have So Many Silent Letters
Silent letters may feel like they exist just to make crossword puzzles and games of Scrabble more difficult. But they actually serve various useful functions. For one thing, they can help etymologists understand the origins of certain words, as well as their connections to other dialects. Silent letters are also
helpful for discerning between homophones — how else would you tell “knight” and “night” apart? Here are some of the more common silent letter patterns we see in English and why they exist. While some letters operate in silence more frequently than others, there are examples of all 26 letters...
