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If 'committed' and 'commitment' follow the rule that a word ending in 't' is doubled when followed by a vowel, WHY doesn't 'debit' follow the same rule? (debited, debtor)

Elissa
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    The English language never consistently follows its own rules...because then anyone could learn it. – KillingTime Aug 04 '23 at 16:30
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    Debit has the stress on its first syllable. And also there is no 'debitment' anyway: the noun and the verb are both 'debit'. – Weather Vane Aug 04 '23 at 16:30
  • What does "commitment" have to do with this? Shouldn't the comparison be with "commit"? – Barmar Aug 04 '23 at 16:31
  • like credited – HippoSawrUs Aug 04 '23 at 18:22
  • Spelling is not really a language phenomenon per se. It is merely a way of representing words in a visible medium. It used to try to follow pronunciation, but pronunciation changes over time and place, so there have been various reform movements to normalize things, but they are temporary, like highway repairs. And there's also the question of what to do about the large "installed base" of texts out there. – TimR Aug 04 '23 at 21:16

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You normally only need to double the consonant if the last syllable is stressed and the vowel is short. It's not necessary if the vowel of the last syllable is long, as in "requited", or the last syllable is unstressed, as in "debited" and "credited".

Since the last syllable of "commit" is stressed, the "t" must be doubled so we don't get a long I sound.

Barmar
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