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Why is "height" an "weight" pronounced differently, when the spellings are so similar?

Is there any logical explanation or it evolved that way?

tchrist
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vickyace
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    Height used to be written with an ie, and weight with an i. (And in Middle Dutch it was oo and i, and in German it's ö and i...) So yes, it evolved that way. The spelling, that is, not the pronunciation. The pronunciation has always been different, and high and weigh are pronounced differently as well, so nothing special here. More to the point, spellings never get pronounced at all — it's pronunciations that get written down, and they get written down very poorly, and not just in English but everywhere. So again, no reason to single out these two words. – RegDwigнt Apr 19 '14 at 09:18
  • The answer to this question may be helpful: spelling of "high" vs. "height" – herisson Oct 29 '15 at 23:24

2 Answers2

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In a comment RegDwigнt long ago wrote:

Height used to be written with an ie, and weight with an i. (And in Middle Dutch it was oo and i, and in German it's ö and i...) So yes, it evolved that way. The spelling, that is, not the pronunciation. The pronunciation has always been different, and high and weigh are pronounced differently as well, so nothing special here. More to the point, spellings never get pronounced at all — it's pronunciations that get written down, and they get written down very poorly, and not just in English but everywhere. So again, no reason to single out these two words.

tchrist
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As far as i know, in both words, "gh" would be silent when 't' comes after "gh" as per grammar rules. "ei" vowel has many accents which are understood the following examples:- Height, reinforce, deity, weight, weird, forfeit etc.

kuldeep
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    This is not an answer, the op was actually asking about the "spelling". Check RegDwight's comment. – Long Jul 22 '20 at 06:33