Why are there silent letters in some words?

Answer 1

Many silent letters have not always been silent.
The K in knight was once spoken, as it still is in German.
The gh in knight was also pronounced,as was the gh in night ,right, bright, might.

The gh in bright or night is still pronounced in parts of Scotland.

The letter G is sometimes followed by a silent UE to give the G a hard sound and make the A a long A (plague, as opposed to flag.
Yes, our language is confusing, especially to people who are learning English and have to learn words which are spelled similarly but pronounced differently, such as:
enough, although, through, plough,drought, cough, hiccough

Answer 2

The immediate answer is because the word comes from another language (greek-originating words seem to be the biggest "culprit" in this respect). However, this doesn't ultimately answer the question, it just delays it. The question simply becomes why do these "originating" languages have silent letters? I honestly don't know. I mean a silent letter to make a vowel "long" is one thing, but a silent letter "just coz" rather defies logic. Perhaps in the original language, they weren't silent but the combination is not easily pronouncable in english. So why not just drop the silent letter then? Crikey, I think we bin round this mullberry bush already.

Answer 3

Because the English language as we know it today is the combination of German (it's technically considered a Germanic language), Latin, French, Celtic and so much more. Therefore, to use the 26 letters we have to make all the different sounds we know, we need to do some very strange stuff. Also, in the translation of words from some of these languages, letters that slightly changed the pronunciation, but no longer do so were kept but became silent.

Easy answer: We have a terribly complicated language.

Answer 4

The silent letters can change the way the word is pronounced. For instance Quit instead of Quite. Changes the short i to a long i sound.

Answer 5

All of those silent letter used to be pronounced. Think about that next time you see a knight stab someone in the knee with a knife.

Answer 6

Because it's a conspiracy involving: ancient Egyptians, Zeta Reticulin aliens, the Soviet Union, and Bill Gates. The basic end is that they're trying to steal your prepaid phone cards.

Answer 7

Some letters are shy.

Answer 8

Cuz the English language doesnt always make sense

Answer 9

Because they used to be pronounced ages ago but now they're not anymore but we still write them the way they used to be written.

Answer 10

because the english language is just crazy i tell ya!!!