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Is the 's' or 'c' silent in the word scent?

Question #148825. Asked by serpa.
Last updated Mar 06 2022.
Originally posted Mar 06 2022 1:43 PM.

Related Trivia Topics: Linguistics Vocabulary

wellenbrecher

Answer has 11 votes

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wellenbrecher

20 year member
650 replies

Answer has 11 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.

Neither of them is silent because they can't be seen as individual characters but rather a digraph. A digraph is a pair of characters used to write a single phoneme. In this particular case the digraph represents the phoneme /s/. Other examples include "scene", "science" or "scissors". These words usually have roots in the Old French or Greek languages.

Sometimes the digraph represents a /sh/ sound. These words often have Italian or Germanic origins. They include "conscious", "eschew", or "fascism".

Please note that the letter combination also works as a consonant blend in some words. In those cases it is NOT a digraph since both consonants can be heard individually. Examples are "scar", "scheme", or "school".

Mar 06 2022, 3:04 PM

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Is the 's' or 'c' silent in the word scent?

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