How is ough pronounced?
‘Ough’ is pronounced ‘uff’ in ‘tough’, ‘rough’ and ‘enough’. Don’t go out in the rough seas. This steak is too tough to chew.
What is a ough word?
Definition of ough —used to express pain or disgust.
Why does ough make an F sound?
Many of the -ough words have their origin in an early form of Germanic, which arrived in the British Isles during the Anglo-Saxon settlements. The language had a sound called the voiceless velar fricative which is the sound made when you here the word Loch.
What are all the Ough words?
List of pronunciations
| Pronunciation | Examples |
|---|---|
| /aʊ/ | bough, doughty, drought, plough, slough (see below), Slough, sough |
| /oʊ/ | although, dough, furlough, though |
| /ɔː/ | bought, brought, dreadnought, fought, nought, ought, sought, thought, wrought |
| /uː/ | brougham, slough (see below), through |
What are some Ough words?
Which words use the ‘ough’ sound?
- plough.
- ought.
- cough.
- rough.
- thorough.
How many pronunciations of ough are there?
eight pronunciations
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Ough is a four-letter sequence, a tetragraph, used in English orthography and notorious for its unpredictable pronunciation. It has at least eight pronunciations in North American English and nine in British English, and no discernable patterns for choosing among them.
Why are ough words pronounced differently?
Q: My son recently asked me why “-ough” words (like “ought,” “tough,” and “though”) are pronounced so differently. The short answer is that these peculiar spellings represent people’s attempts in the past to write words the way they sounded. Eventually spellings were standardized, but pronunciations kept evolving.