Gh (digraph)

Latin_digraph_G_H

Gh is a digraph found in many languages, including English, Irish, Italian, and Romanian. It consists of the letters G and H.

Usage in English

In English, the digraph "gh" can represent a variety of sounds, depending on its position in a word and its historical development. Historically, "gh" was pronounced as a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ or a voiceless velar fricative /x/. Over time, these sounds have largely disappeared from English pronunciation, but the spelling remains in many words.

Silent "gh"

In many English words, "gh" is silent, especially when it appears at the end of a word or before a "t". Examples include:

• Light
• Night
• Thought

Pronounced "gh"

In some words, "gh" is pronounced as /f/. This occurs in words of Germanic origin, such as:

• Laugh
• Cough
• Tough

Historical Pronunciation

In Middle English, "gh" was pronounced as a velar fricative, similar to the "ch" in the Scottish word "loch". Over time, this sound was lost in most dialects of English.

Usage in Other Languages

Irish

In Irish, "gh" represents a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ or a voiced palatal fricative /ʝ/, depending on the surrounding vowels.

Italian

In Italian, "gh" is used before the vowels "e" and "i" to represent a hard /ɡ/ sound, as in "spaghetti".

Romanian

In Romanian, "gh" is used before "e" and "i" to represent the /ɡ/ sound, as in "gheata" (ice).

Related Pages

• Digraph
• English language
• Irish language
• Italian language
• Romanian language
• Velar fricative
• Phonetics