G (letter): Difference between revisions

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Although pronounced after the '''í''' in ignŏre, '''g''' is often silent before '''n''' (cf. '''k''' in '''knôw''') initially: '''gnôme, gnåw''', or, more often, medially after a long vowel or diphthong: '''sîgn''' (cf. '''sígnal''', '''g''' pronounced) '''resîgn, desîgn, impûgn, dèign, rèign''' ''monarch'' (= '''râin''' ''wet''), '''campâign''', and after an unstressed vowel in '''fóreign'''; and sometimes, from French, -'''gne''': '''champâgne, colôgne'''.
Although pronounced after the '''í''' in ignŏre, '''g''' is often silent before '''n''' (cf. '''k''' in '''knôw''') initially: '''gnôme, gnåw''', or, more often, medially after a long vowel or diphthong: '''sîgn''' (cf. '''sígnal''', '''g''' pronounced) '''resîgn, desîgn, impûgn, dèign, rèign''' ''monarch'' (= '''râin''' ''wet''), '''campâign''', and after an unstressed vowel in '''fóreign'''; and sometimes, from French, -'''gne''': '''champâgne, colôgne'''.


In the French ending -'''gue''', the -'''ue''' is silent: '''lêague, intrìgue, plâgue, vâgue, Hâgue''' (similarly with -'''que''').
In the French ending -'''gue''', the -'''ue''' is silent: '''lêague, intrìgue, plâgue, vâgue, Hâgue''' (similarly with -'''que'''). And '''renègue''' may also be spelt '''renège''', keeping its hard '''g''' sound.


It also combines to form the eccentric digraph '''[[GH|gh]]'''.
'''g''' also combines to form the eccentric digraph '''[[GH|gh]]'''.


==See also==
==See also==

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G, g is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the seventh letter of most variants, being placed after F and before H, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈdʒiː], that is gee as in gee up.

Use in English

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Use in English
Alphabetical word list
Retroalphabetical list  
Common misspellings  

For GH in English see GH

g is pronounced in the throat, a voiced k as in kíng (compare gâte and Kâte: the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes); or it is pronounced like j in Jûne ([d] sound followed by the 'zh' sound: [dʒ]).

Hard g, the voiced k: goòd, dóg, guàrd, gúm, ágony, guést, bíg, píg, wríggle, squíggle, égg, flág, ság, Péggy, regâle.

Words beginning with gu- plus a front vowel, e, i or y, have the hard sound; the u is written to show this, and is itself silent: guîde, guínea, guéss, guést, guŷ, guílty (cf. hard final-sound g followed by silent -ue in lêague, plâgue) - similarly, hard gh- in ghôst, ghoûlish, ghāstly.

Soft g, sounding like j, found before front vowels e, i and y medially often preceded by a d following a short vowel: George, gín, gŷroscope, géntleman, geriátric, giráffe, Gërmany, hédge, lódge, cúdgel, brídge, egrêgious, édgy, pâge, Nîgel, wâge.

Soft g is rarely doubled as in exággerate.

But g before e and i is hard in some words, often at the beginning: gíve, gét, gíbbon, gízzard, gíg, gíld gold (= guíld society), gíll fish (cf. soft g in gíll quarter pint = Jíll person), gíddy, begín, and beginning the last syllable in Háringèy *Háringây.

g has the 'zh' sound only in the name of the former French colony Nigér (*Nìzhér). Compare the name of the river and delta, also spelt Nîger, and the former British colony Nigêria, both of which have the normal soft 'j' sound of g - and a different î sound.

g is always soft in penultimate position before e: áverage, bínge.

Before suffixes, hard g is doubled to keep the preceding vowel short: dígging, pégging, lágging, fóggy, dóggie, dógged, béggar, rúgger and also finally in égg and in surnames: Clégg, Hógg = hóg animal, Wrágg = rág cloth, Rígg = ríg ship and before final s in Bíggs.

There is a soft g in dúngeon, *dúnjən, and díngy dirty, *dínjy; dínghy boat has the ng sound, with or without a g sound following it, depending on the speaker. Hard g is gh in spaghétti, ghôul, ghôst.

g begins consonant clusters: glûe, ignŏre (g sounded, cf. gnôme garden = Nõme Alaska), grêen.

Although pronounced after the í in ignŏre, g is often silent before n (cf. k in knôw) initially: gnôme, gnåw, or, more often, medially after a long vowel or diphthong: sîgn (cf. sígnal, g pronounced) resîgn, desîgn, impûgn, dèign, rèign monarch (= râin wet), campâign, and after an unstressed vowel in fóreign; and sometimes, from French, -gne: champâgne, colôgne.

In the French ending -gue, the -ue is silent: lêague, intrìgue, plâgue, vâgue, Hâgue (similarly with -que). And renègue may also be spelt renège, keeping its hard g sound.

g also combines to form the eccentric digraph gh.

See also