Why does English have F and PH?

Greek Phi was once pronounced as a hard “P” in Ancient Greek. So, Latin inscriptions wrote it as “PH” to show that it’s a P sound, but with more air with H. As Greek changed, so did the Greek based English words. In Modern Greek, Phi is pronounced as “F”, and no longer like “PH”/a hard P.

Where does the PH in English come from?

3 Answers. “Ph” is most commonly used in words that come from Greek, like “philosophy”. The Greek letter that makes the “F” sound is “phi”, written like φ. As for “Gh”, most of the words containing it come from German and old English.

Why is English spelling a mess?

Its words are largely of French and German origins, two languages with wildly different spelling rules. These words were imported over many centuries, so even words that are etymologically related in the original language have different spellings now, and spelling drifted over time before writing became common.

Why is elephant spelled with PH?

The word elephant ultimately comes from the Ancient Greek word ἐλέφᾱς (eléphās) via the Latin word elephantus. It was actually sometimes spelt elefant in Middle English but the “ph” spelling ended up winning out, because scholars liked being true to the Latin/Greek spelling.

What is the spelling rule for PH?

Rule The letter “f” is not allowed long words, and if a word is long (more than one or two syllables) as in “geography,” then the sound of “f” is spelled with a “ph.” Note that the origin of the “ph” is derived from the Greek language.

What is the spelling rule for pH?

Does pH always say f?

Most of the time, PH is pronounced like an F , not as two separate sounds. However, there are exceptions to this rule. You’ll also find out how PH became part of the English language. If you want to sound more like a native speaker, get your pronunciation right.

What did Greeks call elephants?

The first one, elephantus (or sometimes elephas or elephans), is fairly straightforward. It’s used in Latin from about the second century BC, and it’s a borrowing of the Greek word ὁ ἐλέφας, –αντος. That’s the normal Greek word for both African and Indian elephants, and is also used in Homer to mean “ivory”.

What is Latin name of elephant?

Loxodonta
African elephants/Scientific names