3

Sometimes ch is pronounced as /k/, as in chorus/chameleon. Sometimes as /tʃ/, as in chamber/chalk.

Why is it so?

tchrist
  • 134,759
aarbee
  • 1,480
  • 1
    English pronunciation is not dependent on spelling, and neither is its spelling dependent on pronunciation, so why almost always relates to historical factors such as etymology, not "rules" of spelling or pronunciation that many attempt to devise. See also http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/74951/why-is-go-spelled-with-the-same-vowel-as-do-and-to-since-it-is-pronounced/74990 http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8883/why-does-english-spelling-use-silent-letters – choster Sep 04 '13 at 20:02
  • For a more comprehensive discussion of English spelling and pronunciation quirks, see Hou tu pranownse Inglish. It misses a few subtleties (like the ch in machine), but overall it's a nice summary of English pronunciation rules. – Bradd Szonye Sep 04 '13 at 20:44

1 Answers1

6

While chamber comes from the French chambre and has an English approximation of the French, chameleon comes from Greek and the first sound is an English approximation of the Greek letter χ.

Another curiosity that the French chambre comes from the Latin camera, and the English for the photographic equipment (originally camera obscura) came more directly from Latin. Shirt and skirt are other examples where the English pronunciation depends on the language route taken.

There is often no logic: the English church and Scots kirk are essentially the same word with different pronunciations evolving over time, and both changed the spelling to be more phonetic.

Henry
  • 20,183