Word.ws English Dictionary

aphthong

Syllables: aph·thong

aphthong noun: a letter or combination of letters employed in spelling a word but not pronounced; a silent letter or polygraph.

Noun

aphthong (plural aphthongs)

  1. (archaic) A letter or combination of letters employed in spelling a word but not pronounced; a silent letter or polygraph
    • The letters "gh" in "knight" are an aphthong.

Forms of aphthong

pluralaphthongs

Origin of aphthong

From Ancient Greek ἄφθογγος (áphthongos). Compare diphthong.

Words formed from aphthong

Questions about aphthong

What does aphthong mean?
Aphthong means a letter or combination of letters employed in spelling a word but not pronounced; a silent letter or polygraph.
What part of speech is aphthong?
Aphthong is a noun.
What is the plural of aphthong?
The plural of aphthong is aphthongs.

Words near aphthong in the dictionary

  1. Aphthartodocetists
  2. aphthic
  3. aphthitalite
  4. aphthitalites
  5. aphthoid
  6. aphthong
  7. aphthongal
  8. aphthongia
  9. aphthongs
  10. aphthosis
  11. aphthous

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aphthong (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “aphthong.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aphthong. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.