How do you pronounce “kn” in English?
Jun 14, 2019
When you see the letters "kn" at the beginning of a word in English, the "k" is (almost always) not pronounced. Take a look at these examples:
- knot
- knee
- know
- knowledge
- knack
- knuckle
- knob
You pronounce the "n" and forget about the "k". But was the silent "k" ever pronounced?
In early english, the "k" in the "kn" combination WAS pronounced, up until about the 15th century. So what happened?
Mary Linn of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Heritage offers this explanation: "You create the "k" sound in the back of your mouth and the "n" just behind your front teeth. That distance makes it hard to pronounce the sounds consecutively. Gradually, English speakers dropped the "k", but speakers of other Germanic languages still pronounce it. "Knish" from Yiddish, which began as a Germanic dialect is one of the few words where the "k" in a "kn" combo is pronounced, and it became part of English around 1900.
English is always changing and pronunciation usually becomes less precise, even if it doesn't always make sense. That is one of the reasons English pronunciation is so difficult for non-native speakers.
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