0

Why is ch pronounced as "Q", as in choir, and are there any other instances where ch is used as the letter "Q"?

mrp52
  • 11
  • this explains it pretty well – msam Mar 25 '14 at 17:06
  • 2
    Note that "ch" here on its own is pronounced /k/. It is the following letters that adds the /w/ sound to make /kw/, which is one of the sounds that the letter "q" makes. (Interestingly, the other sound that "q" on its own makes is /k/, as in "antique"). So there are no instances of "ch" on its own being /kw/, but plenty where "ch" is /k/. – nxx Mar 25 '14 at 17:11
  • Related (use of Q for CH) ... modern transliteration of Chinese. Now we write Qin Dynasty and not the old way Chin Dynasty ... – GEdgar Mar 25 '14 at 17:11
  • One assumes you're talking about English spelling, not Pinyin. In English, Q and K are always pronounced alike, as /k/. C and CH are sometimes pronounced /k/, too. This post explains the situation with C, and this one explains the situation with CH. – John Lawler Mar 25 '14 at 17:33
  • @nxx It's not the letters following that adds the /w/ sound, no other 'cho' words that I can think of are pronounced /kw/, and the only other 'choi' word (choice) is pronounced with a soft 'ch'. The answer seems to be in msam's link, that it came from the French cuer. So it seems reasonable to suppose that any other words derived from French 'cue' words would be pronounced /kw/, maybe in the middle of a word rather than the beginning. But I can't think of one. – Mynamite Mar 25 '14 at 21:57
  • @Mynamite " It's not the letters following that adds the /w/ sound" - I'm not sure what you mean. Definitely there's a /kw/ sound, but the /w/ is not from "ch" - "ch" on its own can be /k/ but not /kw/. It's only because of the rest of the word "choir" that we get /kw/ at the beginning. Now I am also trying to think of French cue-derived words! – nxx Mar 25 '14 at 23:20
  • The Online Etymology Dictionary offers this derivation of choir: "c.1300, queor "part of the church where the choir sings,' from Old French cuer, quer 'choir of a church (architectural); chorus of singers" (13c., Modern French choeur), from Latin chorus 'choir.' Meaning 'band of singers' is c.1400, quyre. Respelled mid-17c. on Latin model." So it's pronounced like "quire" because it was earlier spelled queor or quyre, and it is spelled with a ch now because unnamed people in the 1600s respelled it on the Latin model. The Latin chorus, by the way, derives from Greek χορος. – Sven Yargs Mar 27 '14 at 23:34
  • 1
    No other common English words begin with cho- and are pronounced like qu- or kw-. However, at least one co- word matches this pattern: coiffure, together with its ministers, coiffeur and coiffeuse, and (in some pronunciations) its root word, coif. These words came to us from French, and they have a Late Latin root (coifa), according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, but that source says that the word coif is "of Old High German origin (cf. Old High German kupphia, Middle High German kupfe 'cap')." – Sven Yargs Mar 27 '14 at 23:38

1 Answers1

-1

There are many examples of words where ch is pronounced /k/ including chemistry, character, chaos, mechanic, technology, anchor, Christ, stomach and so on.

The "ch" in classical Greece was pronounced as a voiceless velar plosive, which is the sound you mentioned, so this is an older linguistic form of the "ch" pronunciation that pre-dates the sounds we more often apply to the characters today (as in "chill").

teepee
  • 462