Exhibit A: queue. Five letters to make the sound of the first.

But that's not always the sound it makes.

"Queue" is not pronounced as the sound that the 'q' in "quick" or "quack" makes.

My favorite is "ghoti"[1] which is pronounced as "fish" because of:

gh, pronounced /f/ as in enough /ɪˈnʌf/ or tough /tʌf/; o, pronounced /ɪ/ as in women /ˈwɪmɪn/; ti, pronounced /ʃ/ as in nation /ˈneɪʃən/ or motion /ˈmoʊʃən/.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti

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Izkata an hour ago | parent | next [-]

You only get that pronunciation by breaking at least two English pronunciation rules: Leading "g" is always pronounced like a "g" (and in this position the "h" prevents it from being pronounced like a "j"), and "ti" is only pronounced like "sh" when followed by a vowel. Can't remember if there was a rule it broke about the "o".

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readthenotes1 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Huh? How do you pronounce the name of the first letter of the word queue, and how does that differ from when you pronounce the word queue?

	▲	jcranmer 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The most obvious difference is that queue uses unaspirated /k/ sound while quick and quack both use the aspirated /kʰ/ sound.