E at the end of a word is silent

For unpronounced ⟨e⟩ in French, see e muet.

In English orthography, many words feature a silent ⟨e⟩ (single, final, non-syllabic ‘e’), most commonly at the end of a word or morpheme. Typically it represents a vowel sound that was formerly pronounced, but became silent in late Middle English or Early Modern English.

In a large class of words, as a consequence of a series of historical sound changes, including the Great Vowel Shift, the presence of a suffix on the end of a word influenced the development of the preceding vowel, and in a smaller number of cases it affected the pronunciation of a preceding consonant. When the inflection disappeared in speech, but remained as a historical remnant in the spelling, this silent ⟨e⟩ was reinterpreted synchronically as a marker of the surviving sounds.

This can be seen in the vowels in word-pairs such as rid and ride , in which the presence of the final, unpronounced ⟨e⟩ appears to alter the sound of the preceding ⟨i⟩. An example with consonants is the word-pair loath (loʊθ) and loathe (loʊð), where the ⟨e⟩ can be understood as a marker of a voiced ⟨th⟩.

As a result of this reinterpretation, the ⟨e⟩ was added by analogy in Early Modern English to many words which had never had a pronounced ⟨e⟩-inflection, and it is used in modern neologisms such as bike, in which there is no historical reason for the presence of the ⟨e⟩, because of a perceived synchronic need to mark the pronunciation of the preceding vowel.

Although Modern English orthography is not entirely consistent here, the correlation is common enough to allow a rule-of-thumb to be used to explain the spelling, especially in early schooling, where a silent ⟨e⟩ which has this effect is sometimes called a magic ⟨e⟩ or bossy ⟨e⟩. Orthographic linguist Gina Cooke uses the term replaceable ⟨e⟩^[1] since the replaceability is the consistent mark of the single final nonsyllabic ⟨e⟩, and its ‘silence’ differs from other ‘silent’ letters’ functions. Some practitioners of Structured Word Inquiry have adopted that terminology.^[2]

Effect on vowels[edit]

Depending on dialect, English has anywhere from 13 to more than 20 distinct vowel phonemes, both monophthongs and diphthongs. A silent ⟨e⟩, in association with the Latin alphabet’s five vowel characters, is one of the ways by which some of these vowel sounds are represented in English orthography.

A silent ⟨e⟩ in association with the other vowels may convert a short vowel sound to a long vowel equivalent, though that may not always be the case. The short vowels are while the equivalent long vowels are . However, because of the complications of the Great Vowel Shift, the long vowel is not always simply a lengthened version of the corresponding short one; and in most cases (for example with ride) is in fact a diphthong ().

To create a long vowel, there is usually only one consonant between the silent ⟨e⟩ and the preceding vowel. In some cases two consonants may also have the same effect, as in table, paste and bathe, while in other cases no consonants are also found, as in tie, toe and due. The presence of a double consonant may indicate that the ⟨e⟩ is not silent and does not affect the preceding vowel (as in Jesse and posse).

Short vowel Without silent ⟨e⟩	Long vowel With silent ⟨e⟩	IPA transcription
slăt	slātɇ	/slæt/ → /sleɪt/
mĕt	mētɇ	/mɛt/ → /miːt/
grĭp	grīpɇ	/ɡrɪp/ → /ɡraɪp/
cŏd	cōdɇ	/kɒd/ → /koʊd/
cŭt	cūtɇ	/kʌt/ → /kjuːt/

In English, the «letter name» of a vowel is its long vowel form (except in the case of ⟨y⟩, which has the same pronunciation as ⟨i⟩ – compare byte/bite).

This terminology reflects the historical pronunciation and development of those vowels, but as a phonetic description of their current values it may no longer be accurate. The English values of the letters ⟨a, e, i, o, u⟩ used to be similar to the values those letters had in Spanish, French or Italian, namely [a], [e], [i], [o], [u]. The Great Vowel Shift leading to Early Modern English gave current English «long vowels» values that differ markedly from the «short vowels» that they relate to in writing. Since English has a literary tradition that goes back into the Middle English period, written English continues to use Middle English writing conventions to mark distinctions that had been reordered by the chain shift of the long vowels. However, the pronunciation of ⟨u⟩ before silent ⟨e⟩, found mainly in borrowings from French and Latin, is a consequence not of the Great Vowel Shift but of a different series of changes.

When final ⟨e⟩ is not silent, this may be indicated in various ways in English spelling. When representing , this is usually done via doubling (refugee, employee, with employe as an obsolete spelling). Non-silent ⟨e⟩ can also be indicated by a diacritical mark, such as a grave accent (learnèd) or a diaeresis (learnëd, Brontë). Other diacritical marks are preserved in loanwords (résumé, café, blasé), or introduced on this pattern (maté), though these diacritics are frequently omitted. Other words have no indication that the ⟨e⟩ is not silent (pace, Latin loan meaning «with due respect to»).

The ⟨a⟩ group[edit]

The sounds of the ⟨a⟩ group are some of the more dialectically complex features of contemporary modern English; the phonemes represented in modern «short» ⟨a⟩ include , , and . See broad A and cot–caught merger for some of the cross-dialect complexities of the English ⟨a⟩ group. A silent ⟨e⟩ typically moves ⟨a⟩ to .

The ⟨e⟩ group[edit]

Silent ⟨e⟩ typically moves ⟨e⟩ to . This change is generally consistent across nearly all English dialects today, though previously many dialects used /eː/ instead before migrating to /iː/. Some parts of Mid-Ulster English still use /eː/.

The ⟨i⟩ group[edit]

For the «long vowel» represented in written English by ⟨i⟩, the effect of silent ⟨e⟩ is to turn it into a diphthong .

The ⟨o⟩ group[edit]

Short ⟨o⟩ often falls in with short ⟨a⟩ and shares some of the complexities of that group. Variously, the written short ⟨o⟩ can represent , , and . The usual effect of silent ⟨e⟩ on written ⟨o⟩ is to fix it as a long sound.

The ⟨u⟩ group[edit]

Short ⟨u⟩ can variably represent either or , as a result of the foot–strut split. Silent ⟨e⟩ generally turns ⟨u⟩ to its corresponding long version , which developed from Middle English /ɪu/. Variably by dialect and even word, the in this may drop (rune , lute ), causing a merger with ; in other cases, the /j/ coalesces with the preceding consonant (issue → ), meaning that the silent ⟨e⟩ can affect the quality of a consonant much earlier in the word (educate (, nature ).

Effect on consonants[edit]

In addition to indicating that a preceding vowel is a long vowel, a silent ⟨e⟩ when it immediately follows a ⟨c⟩ or ⟨g⟩ also indicates that the ⟨c⟩ is a soft ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ is a soft ⟨g⟩. For example:

• Măc > mācɇ ( → )
• stăg > stāgɇ ( → )

where is the expected outcome of the ⟨ce⟩ digraph, and the ⟨g⟩ in huge is pronounced . The same effect on ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩, but not the preceding vowel, arises in words such as “chance” and “forge”. To stop this softening effect, a silent ⟨u⟩ is added before ⟨e⟩, as in “plague”, “fugue” and “catalogue.”^{[note 1]}

Silent ⟨e⟩ is used in some words with ⟨dg⟩ in which it does not lengthen a vowel: rĭdgɇ, slĕdgɇ, hŏdgɇ-pŏdgɇ. Spelling such words with ⟨j⟩, the other letter that indicates that sound, does not occur in native or nativized English words.

The same softening effect (⟨c⟩ /k/ → /s/ and ⟨g⟩ /ɡ/ → /dʒ/) also arises with a following (i) or (y).

In word final position, a similar softening effect can occur with the digraph ⟨th⟩ /θ/ → /ð/; often the form with the ⟨e⟩ is a verb related to the noun form without the e:

• bath, bathe (/bæθ/, /beɪð/)
• breath, breathe (/bɹɛθ/, /bɹið/)
• cloth, clothe (/klɔθ/, /kloʊð/)

Truly silent ⟨e⟩[edit]

In some common words that historically had long vowels, silent ⟨e⟩ no longer has its usual lengthening effect. For example, the ⟨o⟩ in come (as compared to in cone) and in done (as compared to in dome). This is especially common in some words that historically had ⟨f⟩ instead of ⟨v⟩, such as give and love; in Old English, /f/ became /v/ when it appeared between two vowels (OE giefan, lufu), while a geminated ⟨ff⟩ lost its doubling to yield /f/ in that position. This also applies to a large class of words with the adjective suffix -ive, such as captive (where, again, the ⟨i⟩ is not lengthened, unlike in hive), that originally had -if in French.

Some loanwords from French (promenade) retained their French silent ⟨e⟩, called e muet or e caduc, which has no effect on the preceding vowel. Also, the feminine forms of some words of French origin end in a silent ⟨e⟩, for example fiancée, petite and née.

Some English words vary their accented syllable based on whether they are used as nouns or as adjectives. In a few words such as minute, this may affect the operation of silent ⟨e⟩: as an adjective, minúte (, «small») has the usual value of ⟨u⟩ followed by silent ⟨e⟩, while as a noun mínute (, the unit of time) silent ⟨e⟩ does not operate. See initial-stress-derived noun for similar patterns that may give rise to exceptions.

Historically, following the French usage, it was the practice to add a silent ⟨e⟩ at the end of words for aesthetic purposes. For example, words ending in -le (as in subtle and table) as well as following an ⟨s⟩ (such as house and tense, etc) have a redundant silent ⟨e⟩. In the past, the silent ⟨e⟩ was also added to many nouns for similar stylistic reasons, such as poste, teste, etc.

Dropping of silent ⟨e⟩[edit]

A silent ⟨e⟩ is usually dropped when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added to a word, for example: cope to coping, trade to tradable, tense to tension, captive to captivate, plague to plaguing, secure to security, create to creator, etc. However, this is inconsistently applied, as in the case of liveable. In the case of the «-ment» suffix, there is also a divergence of practice. In American English, judge usually becomes judgment, while in British English the e is usually retained, as in judgement. Other words with an uncertain practice include movement, incitement, involvement, besides others.^{[citation needed]}

The silent ⟨e⟩ is usually kept when it is preceded by a ⟨c⟩ or ⟨g⟩ and the suffix does not start with ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, or ⟨y⟩ to keep its softening effect (i.e. change to changeable, outrage to outrageous, etc.)

A silent ⟨e⟩ is not usually dropped in compound words, such as comeback.

History[edit]

Silent ⟨e⟩, like many conventions of written language that no longer reflect current pronunciations, was not always silent. In Chaucer’s Balade, the first line does not scan properly unless what appears to current eyes to be a silent ⟨e⟩ is pronounced:

Hyd, Absolon, thy giltè tresses clerè

Gilte ends in the same sound as modern English Malta. In Middle English, this final schwa had some grammatical significance, although that was mostly lost by Chaucer’s time. It was elided regularly when a word beginning with a vowel came next. The consequences of silent ⟨e⟩ in contemporary spelling reflect the phonology of Middle English. In Middle English, as a consequence of the lax vowel rule shared by most Germanic languages, vowels were long when they historically occurred in stressed open syllables; they were short when they occurred in «checked» or closed syllables. Thus bide /ˈbiːdə/ had a long vowel, while bid /bid/ had a short one.

The historical sequence went something like this:

• In Old English, a phonological distinction was made between long and short vowels.
• In Middle English, vowel length was lost as a phonological feature, but was still phonetically present. A word like bide, syllabified bi.de and phonetically [biːdə], had one stressed, open, long syllable. On the other hand, the word bid, although stressed, had a short vowel: [bid].
• At some point unknown, the phonetically long vowels began to diphthongize. This was the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Possibly at the same time, the short vowels became lax. So as «bide» [biːdə] became [bɨidə], «bid» [bid] changed to [bɪd].
• At a later point, all word-final schwas were lost. The phonetic motivation for lengthening the vowel—the open syllable—was lost, but the process of diphthongization had already begun, and the vowels which had once been identical except for length were now phonetically dissimilar and phonologically distinct.

The writing convention of silent ⟨e⟩ indicates that different vowel qualities had become phonemic, and were preserved even when phonemic vowel length was lost.

Long vowels could arise by other mechanisms. One of these is known as «compensatory lengthening»; this occurred when consonants formerly present were lost: maid is the modern descendant of Old English mægde. In this example, the g actually became a glide /j/, so in a sense, the length of the consonant stayed where it always had been, and there was no «compensation.» The silent ⟨e⟩ rule became available to represent long vowels in writing that arose from other sources; Old English brŷd, representing *bruʒd-i-, became Modern English bride.

The rules of current English spelling were first set forth by Richard Mulcaster in his 1582 publication Elementarie. Mulcaster called silent ⟨e⟩ «qualifying ⟨e⟩«, and wrote of it:

It altereth the sound of all the vowells, euen quite thorough one or mo consonants as, máde, stéme, éche, kínde, strípe, óre, cúre, tóste sound sharp with the qualifying E in their end: whereas, màd, stèm, èch, frind, strip, or, cut, tost, contract of tossed sound flat without the same E, And therefor the same loud and sharp sound in the word, calleth still for the qualifying e, in the end, as the flat and short nedeth it not. It qualifyeth no ending vowell, bycause it followeth none in the end, sauing i. as in daie, maie, saie, trewlie, safetie, where it maketh i, either not to be heard, or verie gentlie to be heard, which otherwise would sound loud and sharp, and must be expressed by y. as, deny, aby, ally. Which kinde of writing shalbe noted hereafter. It altereth also the force of, c, g, s, tho it sound not after them, as in hence, for that, which might sound henk, if anie word ended in c. in swinge differing from swing, in vse differing from vs.

Mulcaster also formulated the rule that a double letter, when final, indicated a short vowel in English, while the absence of doubling and the presence of silent ⟨e⟩ made the vowel long. In modern English, this rule is most prominent in its effects on the written «a» series:

• gal, gall, gale (/ɡæl, /ɡɔːl/, /ɡeɪl/).

Digraphs are sometimes treated as single letters for purposes of this rule:

• bath, bathe (/bæθ/, /beɪð/)
• breath, breathe (/bɹɛθ/, /bɹið/)
• cloth, clothe (/klɔθ/, /kloʊð/)

In popular culture[edit]

• Tom Lehrer wrote a song called «Silent E» for the children’s television series The Electric Company in 1971. In it, he asks the musical questions:

  Who can turn a căn into a cānɇ?
  Who can turn a păn into a pānɇ?
  It’s not too hard to see.
  It’s Silent «E»!

• A character is named «Silent E» in Between the Lions.
• A series of similar songs about «Magic E» was featured in the British educational series Look and Read between 1974 and 1994, written by Roger Limb and Rosanna Hibbert and performed by Derek Griffiths.
• In Alphablocks, Magic E is E’s impish alter-ego, with a black ninja outfit and a top hat. He does not speak, but in the episode Magic, he sings a song about himself while he causes mischief.

Notes and references[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

See also[edit]

• I before E except after C
• Silent letter
• Albanian language § Sounds, the Gheg dialect of Albanian also uses «silent e» to mark long vowels earlier in the word

External links[edit]

• Early Modern English (PDF)
• Questions teachers ask about spelling by Shane Templeton and Darrell Morris (PDF)
• Elementarie^{[permanent dead link]} by Richard Mulcaster
• Mulcaster’s «Elementarie» by Richard Mulcaster
• Silent E, complete lyrics by Tom Lehrer
• Look and Read downloads Archived 2005-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, including a version of the Magic E song

TL;DR

The «e» was pronounced (until it wasn’t). There are many different reasons it appeared at the ends of words—including no reason at all. Generally, our spelling system has kept it when it made a difference to the pronunciation of the rest of the word.

Was today’s silent «e» ever pronounced in the past?

Yes, it often was.

One piece of evidence is the spelling of Old English words. As ermanen’s answer states, Old English spelling didn’t have silent letters, so if they spelled a word with an «e», they pronounced it with an «e».¹ Thus, words like line², sun (OE sunne)³, and eye (OE ege or eage)⁴ were once pronounced with two syllables apiece.

Further evidence that final «e» was pronounced, even into the Middle English period, comes from poetry. Consider the following line from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales:

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

In modern spelling, that’s «The tender crops, and the young sun.» But this section of poetry is written in iambic pentameter, and so this line ought to have more than eight syllables. The only way for it to scan correctly is to pronounce all the «e»s:

 /   ×   /    ×   /    ×   /   ×   /  ×   /
The ten-dre crop-pes, and the yon-ge son-ne

Was final «e» always pronounced?

In Old English, yes. In Middle English, not always. Take another line from Chaucer:

Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne

Here we must pronounce some of the «e»s, but not all of them!

 /   ×  /  ×    /   ×    /   ×    /  ×   /
Ful of-te tyme he hadde the bord bi-gon-ne

The introduction to my edition of Chaucer⁵ says that final «e» is often elided (i.e. not pronounced) if the next word begins with a vowel or «h». That explains why «tyme» is one syllable. «Hadde» doesn’t fit that criterion, and therefore illustrates the other possibility: «Before initial consonants -e is ordinarily sounded, though there are cases on almost every page where it must have been either slurred or entirely apocopated» (my emphasis). In other words, in Middle-English poetry (and probably also in casual speech), you could leave the «e» unpronounced if you wanted to.

Why did they stop pronouncing the «e»?

Besides the convenience of poets, there was a much bigger reason why people wouldn’t pronounce the «e»: they didn’t have to. Language frequently «wears down» over time; pronunciations get more efficient by eliminating sounds. Over time «boatswain» becomes «bo’s’n.» This reduction happens especially often with unstressed vowels—like final «e», which in the Middle English period was pronounced as a schwa. Why pronounce «name» as «nahm-uh» when you can just say «nahm»?

Note: we do still pronounce some final «e»s—when they are surrounded by certain consonants. For example, consider «cooked» vs. «booted.» The «e»s in both words used to be pronounced («cook-ed» and «boot-ed»). But today, the «e» in «cooked» is unpronounced, as if the word were «cookt,» while the «e» in «booted» is still pronounced as a short, unstressed vowel. The «e» in «booted» can’t be removed without making the «t» of the stem blend in with the «d» of the ending. It still has a reason to be there, so it gets to stay.

But if the «e»s were unnecessary, why were they there in the first place?

Because they used to carry meaning. In earlier forms of the language, the ending -e formed several different grammatical inflections. For instance, ermanen’s quote from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language mentions that hus is the Old English word for «house,» but huse is the form when the word in the dative case. Some other sources of final «e»:⁶

• Some Old English nouns ended in -e even in the nominative case (e.g. ende)
• Some Old English nouns ended in some other vowel, which came to be pronounced as a schwa in Middle English and was therefore respelled as -e (e.g. OE nama -> ME name)
• Some words were borrowed from French, which also hadn’t stopped pronouncing its final «e»s yet (e.g. corage «heart»)
• Some adjectives took an -e ending in certain grammatical constructions (e.g. the word for «young» is yong, but when it is preceded by the definite article, it becomes yonge: «the yonge sonne»⁷)
• One way to make an adjective into an adverb was to add -e (e.g. bright -> brighte; this pattern was eventually replaced by the modern adverb suffix -ly)
• Several inflections of verbs had an -e ending (e.g., the first person singular: «he singeth, I singe«⁸)

And, yes, there are some words that add an -e without any etymological or grammatical basis at all. My Works of Chaucer introduction calls this an «unhistoric» -e. Googling the phrase «unhistoric final e» turned up several books that talk about the phenomenon, but the usual explanation seems to be, «Who knows?» Sometimes language just changes and there isn’t an obvious rationale.⁹

One quasi-explanation is the process of analogy. If most words in a particular category end in -e, then the few words that don’t may start adding -e to fit in. One source¹⁰ says this happened with grammatically feminine nouns: since many Old English feminine nouns ended in -e (at least in some forms), other feminine nouns with different endings in Old English started adding -e in Middle English. It just seemed like the right ending for a feminine noun to have.¹¹

The results

In any case, the fact is that a lot of words came to have an «e» on the end, and also that most of those «e»s were dropped from the pronunciation.

Some «e»s, before they disappeared, affected the pronunciation of preceding vowels and consonants (e.g. rid vs. ride, rag vs. rage). They were kept in the spelling because they could still indicate those changes.

The new coinage Skype is patterned after words in this category. The «y» needs to be a long vowel to sound like sky, so the word’s creators tacked an «e» on the end to make sure it would rhyme with type and not with tip. I, too, have known non-native English speakers who pronounced it as «Skypee.» But it is following a standard English spelling pattern, even if it’s a somewhat baroque one.

Some «e»s didn’t affect pronunciation at all (e.g. ende, blisse). They were kept in the spelling because spelling tends to be conservative, continuing to represent pronunciations that nobody uses anymore (‘knight’, for example). But eventually, we got rid of most of them.

Stores, shopping centers, and neighborhoods—at least in the U.S.—have lately begun adding these superfluous «e»s to their names right and left, in an effort to seem «olde-fashioned.» My grandmother got me into the habit of mocking this trend by pronouncing the «e»s like your students do: «Oldee Townee» and so forth. What can I say? We’ve got a weird spelling system—we might as well have some fun with it.

---

Footnotes

¹ The pronunciation was probably /e/—more like a Spanish «e» than the modern English «e».
² «Line,» etymonline.com
³ «Sun,» etymonline.com
⁴ «Eye,» etymonline.com
⁵ The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, New Cambridge Edition, 2nd edition, edited by F. N. Robinson.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ These distinctions were the remnants of the Old English system of «strong» and «weak» adjective declension. To get a feel for how it worked, check out the similar usage patterns of German adjectives.
⁸ Pronounced «sing-guh,» not «sinj.» This ending is the same in Old English and, incidentally, also in modern German: «Ich singe.» It’s also the source of the «e» in have (OE hæbbe).
⁹ I find the explanation about printers being paid by the letter particularly unconvincing. This extra «e» phenomenon was widespread in the writings of Chaucer, who died forty years before the printing press was invented.
¹⁰ The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales: The Knightes Tale, the Nonnes Prestes Tale, edited by Mark H. Liddell: «Elements of Middle English Grammar: Inflection,» p. xxxviii
¹¹ Of course, Liddell goes on in a footnote to mention some masculine and neuter nouns that also added -e, and once again we’re back to, «Who knows?»

What is Silent E?

The term silent E (sometimes called magic E) refers to the use of an unpronounced E after another letter (usually a consonant) at the end of a word. As its name suggests, silent E is not pronounced as a separate vowel sound; instead, its most common function is to dictate the pronunciation of the vowel (and occasionally the consonant) that comes before it. However, as we’ll see later, there are many exceptions to this rule, as well as a number of other technical functions that silent E can perform.

Dictating both pronunciation and meaning

As we looked at in the section on vowels, silent E affects the way another vowel in the word is pronounced, changing the speech sound into what is commonly referred to as a “long vowel”—one that is pronounced like the name of the letter. Let’s take a look at some similarly spelled words in which the addition of a silent E changes the pronunciation as well as the meaning. For example:

Word without Silent E	Meaning	Word with Silent E	Meaning
bad (/bæd/)	(adj.) Not good or undesirable.	bade (/beɪd/)	(verb) The simple past tense of bid.
them (/ðɛm/)	(pron.) The objective case of the personal pronoun they.	theme (/θim/)	(noun) A topic, subject, or idea.
grip (/grɪp/)	(verb) To hold onto something.	gripe (/graɪp/)	(verb) To complain in a nagging or petulant manner.
hop (/hɑp/)	(verb) To jump or leap a short distance.	hope (/hoʊp/)	(verb) To wish for or desire (something).
cub (/kʌb/)	(noun) A young bear, lion, wolf, or certain other animal.	cube (/kjub/)	(noun) A solid shape comprising six equal square faces.

Silent E also has this effect on the sound of Y when Y functions as a vowel (the “long” and “short” vowel sounds for Y are the same as I: /aɪ/ and /ɪ/, respectively). There are no standard pairs of words that have the same spelling except for silent E, but we can look at an example of two words with similar spelling to see the differences in pronunciation: myth (/mɪθ/) and scythe (/saɪð/). Notice how silent E also affects the pronunciation of TH; we’ll look at this more closely further on.

Dictating pronunciation but not meaning

It’s important to remember that silent E also has this effect in words that couldn’t be spelled without it—that is, the word without the silent E would have no meaning. Therefore, only the pronunciation is dictated by silent E, not the meaning of the word compared to another.

For example:

A a	E e	I i	O o	U u	Y y
bale (/beɪl/)	concrete (/ˈkɑnkrit/)	bike (/baɪk/)	rope (/roʊp/)	fuse (/fjus/)	thyme (/taɪm/)
cake (/keɪk/)	impede (/ɪmˈpid/)	tile (/taɪl/)	broke (/broʊk/)	mule (/mjul/)	hype (/haɪp/)
rave (/reɪv/)	scene (/sin/)	strike (/straɪk/)	trope (/troʊp/)	rebuke (/rɪˈbjuk/)	tyke (/taɪk/)

Exceptions to the rule

While the silent E rule regarding vowel pronunciation is fairly consistent, there are many instances in which the preceding vowel does not become long. This is typically the result of spelling having changed over time, or of an E becoming silent after having once been pronounced. Some common examples include:

• are (/ɑr/)*
• above (/əˈbʌv/)
• come (/kʌm/)
• done (/dʌn/)
• have (/hæv/)
• give (/gɪv/)
• glove (/glʌv/)
• gone (/gɔn/)*
• love (/lʌv/)
• some (/sʌm/)
• none (/nʌn/)

(*Note that these vowel sounds are considered a kind of long vowel, but are not what is traditionally taught as one—that is, they do not sound like their vowel letters’ names.)

Certain endings

This exception to the rule that silent E produces long vowels before single consonants is also often seen in many (though not all) multi-syllable words ending with “-ive,” “-ine,” and “-age.” Much less commonly, it also happens with words ending in “-ate.” (Note that, in the case of “-age” and “-ate,” the short vowel sound for A changes from /æ/ to /ɪ/.)

For example:

IVE	INE	AGE	ATE
active (/ˈæktɪv/) captive (/ˈkæptɪv/) defensive (/dɪˈfɛnsɪv/) effective (/ˈɪˈfɛktɪv/) offensive (/əˈfɛnsɪv/)	doctrine (/ˈdɑktrɪn/) examine (/ɪgˈzæmɪn/) feminine (/ˈfɛmənɪn/) imagine (/ɪˈmæʤɪn/) medicine (/ˈmɛdəsɪn/)	advantage (/ædˈvæntɪʤ/) bandage (/ˈbændɪʤ/) courage (/ˈkɜrɪʤ/) image (/ˈɪmɪɪʤ/) outage (/ˈaʊtɪʤ/)	accurate (/ˈækjərɪt/) celibate (/ˈsɛlɪbɪt/) corporate (/ˈkɔrpərɪt/) estimate* (/ˈɛstəmɪt/) frigate (/ˈfrɪgɪt/)

Many words ending in “-ine” also have a different long-vowel sound for the letter I (/i/, traditionally taught as the “long E” sound). This is especially true for the names of chemical compounds, but it occurs in other instances as well. For example:

• gasoline (/ˈgæsəˌlin/)
• glycine (/ˈglaɪˌsin/)
• latrine (/ləˈtrin/)
• limousine (/ˈlɪməˌzin/)
• marine (/məˈrin/)
• nicotine (/ˈnɪkəˌtin/)
• ravine (/rəˈvin/)
• saline (/seɪˈlin/)

(*As a noun, estimate is pronounced /ˈɛstəmɪt/. However, this word can also function as a verb, in which case it is pronounced /ˈɛstəmeɪt/, with silent E producing a “long A” as it usually does. There are other words like this that have two pronunciations dictated by E, which we’ll look at next.)

Words with two pronunciations

Many words that have the exact same spelling will have two different meanings with two separate pronunciations. The standard rule that silent E will make the preceding vowel “long” applies to one of these pronunciations, but not the other (though E is silent in both); this difference in pronunciation lets us know which meaning we’re using. For example:

Short vowel sound before final consonant	Meaning	Long vowel sound before final consonant	Meaning
advocate (/ˈædvəkɪt/)	(noun) Someone who represents or stands up for a certain cause.	advocate (/ˈædvəˌkeɪt/)	(verb) To speak for, represent, or support (something) publicly.
dove (/dʌv/)	(noun) A type of bird.	dove (/daɪv/)	(verb) Simple past tense of dive.
live (/lɪv/)	(verb) To exist or be alive.	live (/laɪv/)	(adj.) Having or showing the characteristics of life.
minute (/mɪˈnɪt/)	(noun) A unit of 60 seconds.	minute (/maɪˈnjut/)	(adj.) Very small, unimportant, or petty.
separate (/ˈsɛpəˌrɪt/)	(adj.) Detached; distinct; independent.	separate (/ˈsɛpəˌreɪt/)	(verb) To divide or keep apart.

Changing consonant sounds

In addition to changing the sound of preceding vowels, silent E can also have an impact on the pronunciation of certain consonant sounds, specifically those produced by C, D, and the digraph TH.

Changing C and G

The consonants C and G both have a “hard” and “soft” pronunciation. “Hard C” is pronounced the same as the letter K (/k/), while “soft C” has the same sound as the letter S (/s/). “Hard G” has a unique consonant sound (/g/), while “soft G” is pronounced like the letter J (/ʤ/).

When they come before a silent E, both C and G take their soft pronunciations. This most commonly occurs when CE comes after the letter I and when GE comes after the letter A, but it can occur with other vowels as well. For example:

Soft C	Soft G
ice (/aɪs/)	age (/eɪʤ/)
advice (/ædˈvaɪs/)	cage (/keɪʤ/)
sacrifice (/ˈsækrɪˌfaɪs/)	stage (/steɪʤ/)
face (/feɪs/)	oblige (/əˈblaɪʤ/)
fleece (/flis/)	college (/ˈkɑlɪʤ/)
truce (/trus/)	refuge (/ˈrɛfjuʤ/)

This effect is also true when CE and GE come after N at the end of a word, as in:

• advance (/ədˈvæns/)
• essence (/ˈɛsəns/)
• glance (/glæns/)

• arrange (/əˈreɪnʤ/)
• cringe (/krɪnʤ/)
• orange (/ˈɔrənʤ/)

Changing TH

Silent E also has a bearing on the pronunciation of the consonant digraph TH. In most words that end in TH, it is pronounced as /θ/, an unvoiced consonant sound (meaning the vocal cords aren’t vibrated to create noise). When a final TH is followed by E, however, it almost takes the voiced consonant sound /ð/.

Often, adding a silent E after TH also has the effect of changing the meaning of a word, usually from a noun to a verb. For example:

Word without Silent E	Meaning	Word with Silent E	Meaning
bath (/bæθ/)	(noun) The act of washing the body in water.	bathe (/beɪð/)	(verb) To immerse in water for the purposes of washing; to take a bath.
breath (/brɛθ/)	(noun) An instance of inhaling air into the lungs.	breathe (/brið/)	(verb) To inhale air into the lungs.
cloth (/klɔθ/)	(noun) Material made from woven or knitted fibers.	clothe (/kloʊð/)	(verb) To put on or provide clothing.
teeth (/tiθ/)	(noun) Plural of tooth.	teethe (/tið/)	(verb) Of babies, to grow teeth for the first time.
wreath (/riθ/)	(noun) A ring of entwined flowers, leaves, or other foliage.	wreathe (/rið/)	(verb) To form into or take the shape of a wreath.

Ending some words in a vowel + THE will result in the /ð/ sound but will not change the meaning from a noun to a verb. For example:

• lathe (/leɪð/)
• scythe (/saɪð/)
• swathe (/sweɪð/)
• tithe (/taɪð/)

Other functions of Silent E

In addition to dictating pronunciation, meaning, or both, silent E also has a number of particular orthographic functions at the end of many words.

Providing a final syllable with a vowel

Each syllable in a word must contain a vowel sound. Many words are spelled with a final syllable consisting of a consonant + L, so an E is added to make sure the syllable is complete. While this E is often referred to as silent, in fact it does provide a very subtle, unstressed vowel sound—known as a schwa (/ə/)—before the consonant sound /l/.

This “semi-silent” E can also affect the pronunciation of the vowel sound that precedes the consonant + LE. Generally (there are exceptions), the rule is this: If a single vowel comes before a single consonant + LE, the vowel sound is “long”; if a single vowel comes before two consonants + LE, the vowel sound is “short”; and if a vowel digraph comes before a consonant + LE, the vowel sound is dictated by the digraph itself.

For example:

Single vowel + Consonant + LE	Single vowel + Two Consonants + LE	Vowel Digraph + Consonant + LE
able* (/ˈeɪbəl/) bugle (/ˈbjugəl/) cable (/ˈkeɪbəl/) cradle (/ˈkreɪdəl/) idle (/ˈaɪdəl/) ladle (/ˈleɪdəl/) maple (/ˈmeɪpəl/) noble (/ˈnoʊbəl/) soluble (/ˈsɑljubəl/) title (/ˈtaɪtəl/)	assemble (/əˈsɛmbəl/) bundle (/ˈbʌnbəl/) cattle (/ˈkætəl/) curdle (/ˈkɜrdəl/) example (/ɪgˈzæmpəl/) little (/ˈlɪtəl/) paddle (/ˈpædəl/) marble (/ˈmɑrbəl/) middle (/ˈmɪdəl/) single (/ˈsɪŋgəl/)	beagle (/ˈbigəl/) couple (/ˈkʌpəl/) beetle (/ˈbitəl/) feeble (/ˈfibəl/) double (/ˈdʌbəl/) inveigle (/ɪnˈveɪgəl/) needle (/ˈnidəl/) people (/ˈpipəl/) steeple (/ˈstipəl/) trouble (/ˈtrʌbəl/)

(*The word able also acts as a suffix in many words, meaning “capable of, tending to, or suitable for.” In this capacity, the vowel A is reduced to an unstressed schwa, as in capable [/ˈkeɪpəbəl/] or suitable [/ˈsutəbəl/].)

Note, though, that there are a few words in which no vowel letter is present in the final syllable. These occur when M is the last letter of the word after S or, less commonly, TH; we do not add silent E in these words. For example:

• enthusiasm (/ɛnˈθu.ziˌæz.əm/)
• tourism (/ˈtʊəˌrɪz.əm/)
• rhythm (/ˈrɪð.əm/)

While there is no vowel letter in the final syllable of these words, notice that there is still a vowel sound—an unstressed schwa (/ə/), just like we had in words ending in consonant + LE. (Go to the section on Syllables for more information about the different ways they are formed and identified.)

After final U and V

The vast majority of English words do not end in a U or a V. In a similar way to how E is added after words ending in a consonant + L, it is also added after words ending in U or V to help normalize their appearance. However, unlike when it appears after a consonant + L, this E is truly silent; it does not add a schwa or any other vowel sound to the word.

Finally, for words that end in a single vowel + VE, silent E may or may not affect the previous vowel’s pronunciation (like many of the exceptions we looked at earlier). Unfortunately, the spelling of the word won’t indicate when this is or is not the case, so we just have to memorize the pronunciation of such words.

For example:

U + E	V+ E
clue (/klu/) dialogue (/ˈdaɪəˌlɔg/) ensue (/ɪnˈsu/) fatigue (/fəˈtig/) opaque (/oʊˈpeɪk/) revenue (/ˈrɛvəˌnu/) unique (/juˈnik/) value (/ˈvælju/)	above (/əˈbʌv/) brave (/breɪv/) crave (/creɪv/) eve (/iv/) have (/hæv/) love (/lʌv/) prove (/pruv/) wove (/woʊv/)

Notice that the words ending in GUE or QUE don’t have an additional syllable at the end, so G and Q are pronounced /g/ and /k/ while U and E both become silent. However, in some words, this letter combination does produce an extra syllable, in which case either U or E is pronounced. For instance:

• argue (/ˈɑrgju/)
• dengue (/ˈdɛngeɪ/)
• communiqué* (/kəmˌjunəˈkeɪ/)
• risqué* (/ˌrɪˈskeɪ/)
• segue (/ˈsɛgweɪ/)

(*Communiqué and risqué are loan words from French. Because of this, the final E is traditionally written with an accent mark. However, because these words have become common in English, this accent mark is often left off.)

Keeping a singular noun from ending in S

Another functional purpose of silent E is to keep a singular noun from ending in a single S. This ensures that the word is not mistaken for a plural noun or a third person singular verb.

For example:

• base (/beɪs/)
• course (/kɔrs/)
• cheese (/ʧis/)
• goose (/gus/)
• lease (/lis/)
• moose (/mus/)
• promise (/ˈprɑməs/)
• purse (/pɜrs/)
• spouse (/spaʊs/)
• verse (/vɜrs/)

Non-silent E

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that while a single E following a consonant at the end of a word is usually silent (or else produces a reduced schwa), it does occasionally produce a true speech sound of its own. For example:

• ante (/ˈænti/)
• apostrophe (/əˈpɑstrəfi/)
• coyote (/kaɪˈoʊti/)
• hyperbole (/haɪˈpɜrbəˌli/)
• recipe (/ˈrɛsəpi/)
• sesame (/ˈsɛsəmi/)
• simile (/ˈsɪməli/)
• syncope (/ˈsɪnkəˌpi/)

E is also pronounced when it occurs at the end of words with a single consonant sound, as in:

• be (/bi/)
• he (/hi/)
• me (/mi/)
• she (/ʃi/)
• the (/ðə/ or /ði/)
• we (/wi/)

You may have noticed that a number of English words end in the letter ‘e,’ but this letter ‘e’ is almost never pronounced – it is silent. So, why is it there? Does it serve a function, if so, what? Today, if you read on, you are going to find out why this silent ‘e’ exists and you will also learn some special rules for pronouncing English words that end with a silent ‘e’.

First, try to think of any words you know that end with a silent ‘e.’ Below is a short list of some words I have thought of.

age
cute
code
evoke
hate
hope
grace
squeeze
wine

…and there are so many more!

Not all the English words that end with a silent ‘e’ do so for the same reason, but here are some of the major reasons words in English end with a silent ‘e’:

The silent ‘e’ tells us how to pronounce other letters in the word, i.e. it helps with pronunciation.

A silent ‘e’ at the end of a one or two syllable word tells you to use a long vowel sound for the earlier vowel(s) in the word. A long vowel sound is the sound a vowel makes when you say its name, like when you are reciting the alphabet, a-b-c-d-e-f-g…; that is saying a letter’s name. For example: Say the word ‘wine’ and listen to how the ‘i’ sounds.  Now say the word ‘win’ and listen to how the ‘i’ sounds.  The ‘i’ in ‘wine’ is a long vowel sound and the ‘i’ in ‘win’ is a short vowel sound.  So, one of the things the silent ‘e’ at the end of a word does is indicate long vowel sounds for preceding vowels.

The silent ‘e’ also indicates when to us softer sounding consonants in some words. For example: Say the words ‘grace’ and ‘age,’ the consonants ‘c’ and ‘g’ have a softer sound than they do in words like ‘cat’ and ‘go.’ The silent ‘e’ is an indication to you to use these softer sounding consonants in words.

Sometimes the silent ‘e’ is needed at the end of a word to make a syllable, i.e. it helps words follow the rules.

Every syllable, in every English word, needs to have a vowel in it. Adding a silent ‘e’ to the end of a word helps some words follow this rule. For example: Without the silent ‘e,’ the word “handle” (broken down into two syllables, han-dle) would violate this basic rule of English grammar. Here is a nice side note, this English language rule has no exceptions – all syllables in English need to have a vowel in them!

Lastly, the silent ‘e’ also stops some singular words from looking like plural words, i.e. it helps with esthetics and understanding.

Usually plural forms of words in English end in ‘s,’ there are certainly words in English that end in ‘s’ that are not plural, but there would be a lot more of these if there were no silent ‘e.’ For example: Look at the word ‘moose.’ If there were no ‘e’ at the end of this word it would be ‘moos,’ and you might think this word was a plural word if you didn’t already know what it means. Note: The silent ‘e’ at the end of ‘moose’ does not indicate the use of a long vowel sound because the preceding vowel is double ‘oo,’ not just ‘o’.
In the end the main reason we have for the existence of the silent ‘e’ in English is that it is trying to be helpful!