There are some important K spelling patterns from Old English. At the beginning of words the letter K is silent before a letter N. However in Old English KN- at the front of a word was fully pronounced, and spelt CN-. The word knot came from the Old English cnotta. Other examples include: knife (cnif), knight (cniht) and knew (cneow). In Middle English the Norman French rulers of England changed the spelling from CN- to KN-. In Early Modern English it was reduced by lazy English speakers to an N sound. By 1750, silent K became the standard pronunciation after about a century of weakening.
Old English used a CC spelling at the end of many words which became a CK in Middle English. So words like sack come from the Old English word sacc. When does one use a C or a CK in Modern English spelling? There is no firm rule, however as a general guideline, the letter K replaced the letter C after a long vowel (peak, make), diphthong (hawk, book) or a consonant (risk, bank). After a short vowel, the Middle English -CK is used to represent the K-sound (back, lock, stack). Words of both Old French/Latin origin and Old English origin often got respelled to fit this pattern. However many words that used to be spelt with a -CK ending eventually were shortened to -C, examples include musick and publick. So the pattern exists, but not all words follow it.
The letter C usually makes a K-sound (instead of an S-sound) before A, O or U. At the beginning of words the letter K is silent before a letter N. At the end of words -CK is often used for the K sound. In the last article we covered when C makes a K or an S sound. (link.mingpao.com/69202.htm) In the next article, we will cover K sound spelling patterns that were brought to English by foreign words.
Related Articles:
‧AW
‧B
‧CK
‧CC
‧SC
‧Silent D Is Not Always Silent
‧D
‧Hard And Soft G Spelling Patterns
‧No English words end with the letter i?
‧NG
‧When is Initial U Short and when is it Long?
‧X
‧Pronouncing The Letter Y At The Front Of A Word
‧Pronouncing The Letter Y In The Middle Of A Word
‧Pronouncing The letter Y At The End Of A Word
‧The letter Y & The Double Vowel Rule
‧The Last Letter is a Foreigner
‧Silent letters and why English spelling is such a mess (1): Old English
‧Silent letters and why English spelling is such a mess (2): Fake Latin
‧I Both Love and Hate Spell-Checkers
‧The Rule: I before E, except after C
by John Larrysson [email protected]
A native English speaker who has been teaching practical English in Hong Kong for over two decades.
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