OK. How come lamb is spelled like lamb not like lam and climb is spelled like climb and not clime etc?
2007-03-17 06:52:24 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Because english is a confusing language. There's no reasoning behind silent letters.
2007-03-17 06:55:31 · answer #1 · answered by jmp478 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In Middle English, lamb was actually pronounced with the /b/ sound at the end. As English has evolved, the /mb/ has naturally merged to be just /m/. So, historically, spelling it "lamb" made sense because that's how it was pronounced.
2007-03-17 07:02:16 · answer #2 · answered by jengirl9 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It most likely has to do with the parent language of that word and how the word was first spelled AND pronounced in English with the parent dialect.
I was watching BBC America recently and this woman was talking about her "asTHma." She pronounced it exactly as spelled. In the US we say "azzmuh" with a silent -th-.
2007-03-17 07:07:22 · answer #3 · answered by musicimprovedme 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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2016-12-02 03:33:42 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English language is a mixture of muiltiple other languages.
Latin, French, Spanish, etc.
Each language has it's collective oddities, English just so happens to borrow these oddities.
Example:
Mosquito isn't Mosskeetoh
Vacuum isn't Vackuhm
Colonel isn't Kernel
etc.
2007-03-17 06:59:10 · answer #5 · answered by Mitch 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's after all the uniqueness of a language, that makes it rich and gives it heritage of its own kind : English, in this case, as per the question under reference.
2007-03-17 07:01:02 · answer #6 · answered by Sam 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because, sombe timbes, the English language gets a little bit conphusing.
2007-03-17 07:09:47 · answer #7 · answered by Off the Key of Reason 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, one day when the person was writing the dictionary, some little kid switched out the B letter with the E letter...so whenever he was tryin to type the letter E the B popped up.
well really, i have no clue
2007-03-17 06:56:11 · answer #8 · answered by blonde@♥ 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
it is to not mix other words up with some words that are spelled simillar. The enlglish dictonary is one of the hardest to understand if you were to learn it your first day.
2007-03-17 06:56:23 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because they are silent b's or f's or anything
2007-03-17 06:57:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋