Why is a tsunami spelled that starts with t?

The ‘t’ is silent in the English version of ‘tsunami’ because ‘ts’ is not acceptable at the beginning of a word in English. In Japanese, the ‘ts’ sound is acceptable at the beginning of a word, and so the ‘t’ part *is* pronounced in the original Japanese (they actually think of ‘ts’ as a single sound).

Why is the term T silent in tsunami?

‘Tsunami’ was borrowed from Japanese, and ‘psychology’ was borrowed from Greek. Some English speakers – not all – simplify the word ‘tsunami’ by not pronouncing the initial ‘t’, so that it fits in with the phonological rules of English.

Is the T in tsunami?

In English the word is pronounced [sunami] rather than [tsunami] since English does not allow syllable-initial [ts].

Why the T is silent?

A: The short answer is that the “t” in many words is silent because it’s too difficult or awkward to pronounce and has become assimilated into the surrounding consonants.

Do we pronounce T in tsunami?

Those words all refer to things that are very specific to Japan. But tsunamis are more general — they can happen anywhere in the world. We’ve brought it over into English anyway, changing the pronunciation a bit, by dropping the T-S sound from the Japanese “TSU-nami,” and just pronouncing it as “SU-nami.”

What is the English name for tsunami?

harbor wave
Tsunami is a Japanese word with the English translation, “harbor wave.” Represented by two characters, the top character, “tsu,” means harbor, while the bottom character, “nami,” means “wave.” In the past, tsunamis were sometimes referred to as “tidal waves” by the general public, and as “seismic sea waves” by the …

How did tsunami get its name?

The word tsunami (pronounced tsoo-nah’-mee) is composed of the Japanese words “tsu” (which means harbor) and “nami” (which means “wave”). Thus, the Japanese word “tsunami”, meaning “harbor wave” is the correct, official and all-inclusive term.