E (letter)
E is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the fifth letter of most variants of the Latin alphabet, being placed after D and before F: for instance it is the case in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈiː], that is ee.
Use in English
e shows various vowel sounds - or is silent.
The short sound (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes): véry, héad, bést, dén, wéll, péck, néck, Bén, déath, mérry, chérish, cléft, beréft, behést, bétter, wéather sunny = BrE whéther if, ahéad, bléd (cf. blêed), néxt, guést, thére (*dhãre).
This is also the sound of said (*séd).
The long sound: bêat win = bêet sugar, bêach sand = bêech tree, hêat, nêat, têeth, glêe, spêak, Pêter, explêtive, delêted, relìêf, grìêve, dêar, wêary, crêam, bê is = bêe insect, bêacon, trêe, thrêe, êat, and unstressed in cóffêe, tóffêe, and the Latin aê (sometimes as æ): nébulaê, fŏrmulaê, nôvaê, Aêschylus, and unstressed in aesthétic.
Note that ea occurs for both sounds: déath, bréadth, héad, bréath noun, cf. brêathe verb, bêat, wrêath, spêak. Compare lêap present, léapt past.
Unstressed (initial and medial but not final) e sounds like í: rewård, delîght, mállet, tícket, becòme, except in Australia and New Zealand, where the sound is schwa.
And also in contracted forms (especially BrE): he’s (= hís), she’s (*shízz - though in careful speech the sound in these remains ê).
e has this sound stressed in pretty (*prítty).
A third sound è is usually found before i followed by certain consonants: vèil, vèin, Sínn Fèin (Sh-), slèigh snow (= slây kill), wèigh kilo (= wây manner), wèight kilo (= wâit delay, cf. heîght) dèign, rèign monarch = rèin horse (= râin wet), bèige (-zh-), nèigh, fèint pretend (= fâint swoon).
It is unstressed in fŏyèr (silent r).
è is also found before y: thèy (cf. théir), prèy victim (= prây God), whèy eat BrE = wèigh heavy (= wây manner), grèy (AmE grây). And alone, from French: crèpe, fète. Also: dô-rè-mì. è and â can coincide to show the same sound: greât, breâk (cf. stéady, bêad).
The sound is eî in most BrE in eîther and neîther although some speakers, especially AmE, say êither and nêither. eî is rare but also occurs in heîght, seîsmic, feîsty, Bruneî, and O’Reîlly.
After c and w, the sound of ei is normally ê: cêiling, recêive, concêit, decêit, recêipt (*recêit), wêir, wêird (and also sêize, Shêila, Nêil, Kêith). But we have already seen wèigh and wèight, and a spelling exception is wìêld (like fìêld).
er is usually unstressed schwa, with r sounded in AmE and Scottish English: fóster, āfter, wörker, fàrmer, quícker.
But it is like a stressed schwa in cërtain, bërth ship (= bïrth born), nërve, sërve, mërchant, nërd, and as -ëar- in hëard. The same sound can be found using different vowel letters in shïrt, bürn and wörth.
eû and eŵ are both pronounced û (= yoû) in most words, though not after the liquid sounds r and l: Ándreŵ Leŵis does not have the y semi-consonant in either name.
eû is Greek for ‘well’, and it begins lots of words: eûlogy, euthanâsia, eûcharist (-k), eûphemism.
This combination occurs in other words as well: Teûton, queûe line (= cûe theatre, snooker, *kyû).
A following r can modify the sound to eù: either neùron, Eùrope, pleùrisy.
eŵ is used finally, and is therefore more common: vieŵ, feŵ, deŵ, Keŵ, Jeŵ, peŵ, neŵ, seŵer, neŵer, vieŵer, yeŵ tree (= yoû me) - cf. rewård (rí-). sew needle, however, is pronounced like sô therefore.
Before v the sound is usually short, é, it being very rare to double the letter v: lévy, bévy, séven, eléven, and: léaven, héaven. The long sound is in êven, belìêve, lêave, and clêave.
-èy, pronounced â, occurs at the end of some words of one or two syllables: thèy, whèy, obèy, purvèy, prèy victim; but this final sound is more usually spelt -ây: prây God, sây, dây, delây, wây, stây. In ósprey, both -èy and -êy are heard.
And at the end of some words -ey is an unstressed ê: whískey (= Irish variant of Scots whísky) cürtsey, blàrney, chútney, nôsey, hóckey, and in many place-names: Shéppey, Bátley, Púdsey, Guërnsey, Ålderney - and in some people’s names: Jéffrey = Géoffrey, Bàrney, Áshley, Càrney, Wolsey (ù).
But this final sound is more usually spelt with just -y: fúnny, sílly, háppy, jétty, Sálly, ûsually, véry, Dàrcy. Adjectives formed from words ending in e may or may not retain the e: prîcey or prîcy; dîcey, not *dîcy.
i before e except after c remains a good rule, and the same applies to w with the exception of wìêld. After c the sound is êi: decêit, cêiling, recêive - and similarly after w: wêird, wêir - though not in wèigh, wèight heavy (= wâit time).
e joins with r to give the ër sound: wëre, përson, vërdant, përm, vërve, sërvant, sometimes spelt with a redundant a: lëarn, hëard, yëarn, pëarl, ëarth, rehëarse, dëarth. But in heàrt and heàrth, it is the e which is redundant.
Irregular e’s
| Spelling | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| bléssed (attributive adj) | *bléssid |
| bûreau | *byûrô |
| bureaucracy | *byurócracy |
| canoe | *canoô |
| clërk office (regular in AmE) | BrE Clàrk surname |
| dërby (regular in AmE) | BrE *dàrby |
| en másse | *ón máss |
| en roûte | *ón roòt |
| encore | *óncŏr |
| England | *Íngland |
| English | *Ínglish |
| ensemble | *onsómble |
| entrepreneûr (AmE) | BrE *ontrəprenër |
| he’s | *híz (= hís) |
| lëarned (attributive adjective) | *lëarnid |
| pláteau | *plátô |
| pretty | *prítty |
| reveille | *reválly |
| sacrilegious | *sacrelígious *sacrelíjəss (from sácrilege) |
| sergeant army | Sàrgent surname |
| sew needle | sô therefore |
| she’s | *shíz (mostly BrE) |
| shoe foot | shoô away |
| tábleau | *táblô |
In some words imported from French, initial en- is pronounced 'ón-': encore, entreprenëur, ensemble (*onsómble). In others, it depends on the speaker: énvelôpe or *ónvelôpe, énclâve or *ónclâve.
In some Russian names e alone represents the sound of the equivalent Russian letter, 'yé': Brézhnév *Brézhnyeff, Medvédev *Medvyédeff or even *Medvyédyeff.
There is another redundant e in yeôman, cf. the redundant o in léopard; and in pêople, which also provides an example of the very common silent e in final position, where it often (especially in monosyllables) indicates a long sound of the preceding vowel: tîme, rhyme, lâthe, câve, hôpe, thêse, mîne, tâke, tûne, phâse, âche (*âyk), machìne, nóctürne, mássàge (-àzh).
Examples of final silent e: gíve, fámíne, cāstle, térrace, víllage, méssage.
Here, it has no effect on the preceding vowel. The a’s in the last three can be pronounced í or schwa.
But in final position e can be, especially in words from Greek, unstressed ê: Penélopê, apóstrophê, synécdochê, ácmê and, always before a vowel beginning the next word, thê article (= thêe you).
The rules for the pronunciation of regular past tenses are: after t or d: -íd: wanted, lôaded. but silent e in other cases: after other voiced consonants: -d: plâgued (-gd) nâmed (-md) and after other unvoiced consonants: -t: kícked (-kt) flápped (-pt).
However, these forms when used as attributive adjectives can ignore these rules: bléssed, lëarned (both -íd): a bléssed thíng, a lëarned mán.
The sound of final French é is usually unstressed (unlike in French) è (â). It may, however, depending on the speaker, be stressed - and even written with an acute accent: café, risqué, roué for cáfè, rìsquè (-sk-; or rí-) and roûè.
sergeant is pronounced as in Sir Málcolm Sàrgent.
-er, -ər, is a common suffix, showing an agent (as with -or): têacher, wörker, desîgner, lécturer, plâyer, bòuncer, díshwasher, shócker, hêater. -er also forms the comparative of adjectives: bétter, nîcer, lónger, stûpider.
ear has three sounds:
- êar, hêar, gêar, fêar, dêar, Lêar, nêar, rêar, wêary
- béãr carry (= bãre naked), péãr fruit (= pãir two), wéãr dress (= wãre sell)
- hëard, hëarse, lëarn - and yëar or yêar
Compare: téãr cry, têar rip (= tìêr row).
French -eau is pronounced -ô: pláteau, tábleau, beau (*bô).
A final silent -e is retained before -able if it aids pronunciation: pronòunceable (*pronòunsable, not *pronòunkable), sâleable (*sâlable, not *sállable).
-ent and -ant
-ent is more common than -ant. In particular, there is -ment: fïrmament, curtâilment, prefërment, entîtlement, àrgument. -mant only occurs when -ant is added to -m: dormant, clâimant.
And -dent: indepéndent, àrdent, respléndent, correspóndent, trîdent, depéndent adjective (cf. depéndant person).
After ‘soft’ g: ürgent, resürgent, sergeant (*sàrjent). Also ínsolent, përmanent, rédolent, sërpent, éxcellent - but pétulant.
Finally, some contrasting pronunciations in similar-looking words: êke, ére before (= ãir breathe), êve, eŵe sheep (= yoû me = yeŵ tree) and eŷe sight (= Î me = î letter).