Why do American's pronounce?

Question

Why do American's say "erbs" when there is clearly an "H" in front of the word? It's not silent.

I'm from Australia and we pronouce it Herbs....as in the name, "Herb" the H is not silent....so yeah, just wondering why American's drop the first letter in the word.

I'm not suggesting it's wrong to drop the H, it's just a curiosity of mine...many thanks to all who have answered this.

Hour and heir are pronounced "our" and "air"....we were taught herb is the exception to the rule.

Answer 1

Well because in the ENGLISH language the H is silent. What language are you speeking?

Answer 2

"The word herb, which can be pronounced with or without the (h), is one of a number of words borrowed into English from French. The (h) sound had been lost in Latin and was not pronounced in French or the other Romance languages, which are descended from Latin, although it was retained in the spelling of some words. In both Old and Middle English, however, h was generally pronounced, as in the native English words happy and hot. Through the influence of spelling, then, the h came to be pronounced in most words borrowed from French, such as haste and hostel. In a few other words borrowed from French the h has remained silent, as in honor, honest, hour, and heir. And in another small group of French loan words, including herb, humble, human, and humor, the h may or may not be pronounced depending on the dialect of English. In British English, herb and its derivatives, such as herbaceous, herbal, herbicide, and herbivore, are pronounced with h. In American English, herb and herbal are more often pronounced without the h, while the opposite is true of herbaceous, herbicide, and herbivore, which are more often pronounced with the h."

Answer 3

That's just the way we are taught to say it. To me, the "h" in "herb" is silent. I can think of other words that also have a silent "h". For instance, the word "hour". Do you pronounce the "h" when you say "hour"?

To me, both pronunciations of "herb" (with and without the "h") are correct. Funny how English works, isn't it?

Answer 4

What you're talking about seems to be similar to the difference between Received Pronunciation (RP) and regional or dialectic (though I'm not totally sure that dialectic is appropriate but oh well...) English. It's to do with nothing more than there are regional differences to how things are pronounced (even in the UK!) because of how the language was influenced when it was formed.

As for how "heir" and "hour" are pronounced in the UK it would depend on what region you're talking about OR if you're talking about RP. But generally "heir" would be pronounced like 'air' and "hour" like 'our' with the H's dropped.

Answer 5

The "H" is silent in the English language

Herbs (IPA: hə(ɹ)b, or əɹb; see pronunciation differences) are plants grown for culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual value. The green, leafy part of the plant is typically used. General usage differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. A medicinal herb may be a shrub or other woody plant, whereas a culinary herb is a non-woody plant. By contrast, spices are the seeds, berries, bark, root, fruit, or other parts of the plant, even leaves in some cases; although any of these, as well as any edible fruits or vegetables, may be considered "herbs" in medicinal or spiritual use. Culinary herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that they are used in small amounts and provide flavor (are spices) rather than substance to food.

Answer 6

the H is not silent in the english language. you people saying so should ave a look at recent istory and see that your descripion of this rule is orsepoo.

Yanks say "erbs" to sound french. Just like they say "filay" instead of filet. The frogs helped the yanks beat the poms so i suppose in return the yanks decided to jack up the language that the poms invented and stick in as much french sounding stuff as possible.

you will also notice that if something is foreign yanks also use a long sounding A sound whenever an A is involved.

instead of prononcing say "hamburg" they will say "haamburg"

but then call minced meat, "hamburger" with the A sound just like ours.

I also heard about a snowstorm at "Baalaaraat" a month ago. No joke.

Answer 7

what part of America are these people are from because area has it's own accents.

Or it could just be a case of people shorting a word.

I know were I am from we pronounce the H in herbs

Answer 8

And you would be from the U.K. and say HERB like a man's name.

Herb is originally a French word and the "h" is silent. Like the designer Herme which is pronounced "airmay".

American English is a conglomeration of spellings and pronunciations from around the globe as our relatives have brought their mother languages together and created this new blend of "English."

Answer 9

I drop the H myself. But it does vary from person to person on how you pronounce any word really. And it varries on where you live too. Like here in the states pronouncing food items change from the north to the south, and the east to the west. To one person it may get on their nerves because "its not pronounced right" but the that person it is.

Answer 10

Herb is a guys name (h)erb is for the plant.

Answer 11

There is a difference in our languages. Ours is called the American Language. When our dictionary was compiled , Webster went out of his way to make American different from the English spoken in the motherland and titled his work, "The Dictionary of the American Language". So, there you 'ave it. :^)