Ghoti facts for kids
Ghoti is an artificial word used to illustrate irregularities in English spelling. It is a respelling of the word fish: i.e., it is supposed to be pronounced /ˈfɪʃ/. It is made of these phonemes:
- gh, pronounced /f/ as in tough /tʌf/;
- o, pronounced /ɪ/ as in women /ˈwɪmɪn/; and
- ti, pronounced /ʃ/ as in nation /ˈneɪʃən/.
Using the same method, ghoti can be a silent word, where:
- gh as in though; here, and in the next examples, the bold letters are not pronounced.
- o as in people;
- t as in ballet or mortgage;
- i as in business
In fact, ghoti is likely to be spontaneously pronounced [goʊtaɪ] or [gəʊtaɪ] (like "go" + "tie") but certainly not like "fish" since : gh is never pronounced [f] (cf. "ghost") at the beginning of a word neither ti is pronounced [ʃ] at the end of a word.
Spelling in English is discussed in orthography.
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Ghoti Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.