Have you ever wondered why some words like write and wrong begin with a silent W?
Of course you haven’t, but luckily for you, I have.
The answer is fairly straightforward, and so different from the explanation for many other silent letters in English. Basically, it used to be pronounced in Proto-Germanic, but it gradually stopped being pronounced long before modern English came about. In the 10th and 11th century Wr started to be replaced by just R, which is why you don’t find Wr in modern German.
For some reason though, we’ve kept the Wr spelling in English. Probably we’ve always known that the W was silent, so we were never confused enough by it to bother getting rid of it.
The funny thing about it is, that if we tried to get rid of it now, it’d feel very strange, and I think a lot of people would resist the idea. I mean, could you imagine someone telling you that you were spelling a word rong? Even changing write to rite, which exists as a word in English (albeit with different meaning), would be weird.
Losing the W shouldn’t be a problem, but I can’t imagine spelling words that way. For all I write about how confusing and illogical English can be, I still wouldn’t have it any other way. I like my Wr words. It’s not logical, but I don’t care. It’s all part of the chaotic tapestry that gives English its unique charm.
English-Language Thoughts 
And in “3 R’s” , only one of them starts with an R 🙂
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I’ve always wondered how much harm that phrase did to children’s spelling 😊
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I wonder if you KNow something about silent ” k” in KNife, Knowledge, etc.
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That’s a similar story: the “k” used to be pronounced too. So “knight” would’ve sounded like “kenigget!”
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These words wear their history on their faces. I like that.
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That’s a great way of putting it, I think that’s what appeals to me!
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I’ve always enjoyed words as personalities, I guess I can define it, as well as for what they mean. I really enjoy your posts.
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Thanks 😊
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Though I did know what the body of the post might contain, the start and the end were simply impeccable!
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Thank you 😊.
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[…] if you’re really attached to that W, that’s fine too, and it might give your writing an antique charm. Just don’t waste too much time racking your brains over which word to […]
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