E (letter)

Note, the symbol e may also refer to the base of the exponential functions - see e (math) or E (disambiguation)

E is the fifth letter of the English alphabet. Its name is pronounced 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 = 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 printed 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 (not finally) e sounds like í: becòme (final one silent) rewård, delîght, mállet, tícket. And also in contracted forms (especially BrE): he’s (= hís) she’s (*shízz - though in careful speech the sound here would be ê).

e has this sound stressed in pretty (*prítty).

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 = wèigh kilo (= 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). But we have already seen wèigh and wèight and a spelling exception is wìêld (as with 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 (cf. bïrth born), nërve, sërve, mërchant, nërd, and as -ëar- in hëard. The same sound can be found spelt differently 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 sound 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 it to eù: either neùron, Eùrope, pleùrisy are more commonly heard than neûron, Eûrope, pleûrisy.

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

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 *on-máss

en roûte *on-roòt

encore *óncŏr

England *Íngland

English *Ínglish

ensemble *onsómble

entrepreneûr (AmE) BrE *ontrəprenër, AmE *ontrəprenûr

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 French words, initial en- is pronounced ón-: encore, entreprenëur - and ensemble (*onsómble). In others, it depends on the speaker: énvelôpe or *ónvelôpe, énclâve or *ónclâve.

Redundant e also occurs in yeôman, cf. the redundant o in léopard; and in pêople, which also provides one of innumerable examples of 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).

e is silent also in: 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 Malcolm 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 (which is the adjective: depéndant is the 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 (= I me = i letter).

See also

• Letter (alphabet)
• Alphabet
• Writing system
• Orthography
• Written language
• Writing