mute h

noun
/mjuːt eɪtʃ/

Etymology

Calque of French h muet.

  1. derived from h muet

Definitions

  1. In the French language usage of the letter h at the start of a word which allows liaison…

    In the French language usage of the letter h at the start of a word which allows liaison with a preceding consonant.

    • The French word homme ("man") begins with a mute h. Consequently we can say l'homme /l‿ɔm/ and les hommes /le‿zɔm/, but never /lə ɔm/ and /le ɔm/, like we do with the aspirated h.
    • Whether the h be a mute h or an aspirate h, it may be regarded in either case as absolutely silent.
    • In French initial h’s are called either mute h’s (the greatest number) or aspirate h’s (fewer in number, but frequent nonetheless).
  2. Non-aspiration of a glottal consonant.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for mute h. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA