Origin: From Middle French ‘coronel’, which became ‘colonel’ in Modern French. English took on the French pronunciation but kept the earlier Italian-influenced spelling.

‘February’ stems from ‘Februarius’, the name of a Roman purification festival. The ‘r’ is often silent in pronunciation due to the difficulty of articulating it before the ‘u’.

Origin: From Old English ‘an’, which evolved into ‘one’ to distinguish it from the indefinite article ‘an’. The ‘o’ is a development from the Middle English long ‘o’ sound.

Explanation: Adopted from French, where ‘queue’ means ‘tail’. The ‘ue’ sequence is a holdover from the French, with only the first letter pronounced in English.

Origin: From Old English ‘twā’, the ‘w’ is a historical remnant that was once pronounced.

Named after the Norse god Odin (Woden), the original Old English spelling was ‘Wodnesdaeg’. Over time, the pronunciation simplified.

Explanation: The word ‘business’ comes from the word ‘busy’ with the addition of the suffix ‘-ness’. Pronunciation evolved to condense the middle syllable.

Historical Pronunciation: The ‘gh’ used to represent a guttural sound that has since been lost in modern English pronunciation.

Dutch Origin: Borrowed from Dutch ‘jacht’, where ‘ch’ is pronounced differently. English has maintained the spelling but adapted the pronunciation.

French Influence: The state’s name is derived from the French pronunciation of a Sioux word, hence the silent ‘s’ at the end.

Italian Origin: English adapted ‘Bologna’, an Italian city, but anglicized the pronunciation to ‘baloney’.

Etymology: From Middle English ‘celen’, meaning ‘to cover’, influenced by Latin ‘caelum’, meaning ‘heaven’ or ‘sky’.

Old English Roots: ‘Come’ keeps its traditional spelling from Old English ‘cuman’, despite changes in pronunciation over time.

Phonetic Evolution: ‘Does’ comes from the Old English ‘dōes’, and the ‘oe’ used to indicate a short ‘u’ sound which evolved to the current pronunciation.

Adjective Formation: The word ‘fiery’ is derived from ‘fire’. The change from ‘fire’ to ‘fiery’ involves a common switch of ‘e’ before ‘r’ in adjectives.

Germanic Roots: Comes from the Old English ‘frēond’, the ‘ie’ reflects a historical pronunciation that has since shifted.

Etymology: Derives from ‘grate’ in the sense of ‘pleasing’. The ‘e’ was retained in ‘grateful’ to reflect its root, despite its silent status.

Italian Origin: ‘Lasagna’ comes from Italian, and the ‘gna’ ending is typical in Italian for the ‘nya’ sound.

Historical Pronunciation: The ‘gh’ in ‘laugh’ was once pronounced as a guttural sound, similar to the Scottish ‘loch’.

Old English: The name ‘Lincoln’ derives from the Latin ‘Lindum Colonia’ and has kept its historical spelling despite pronunciation changes.

Greek and Latin Origins: From Greek ‘Okeanos’ and Latin ‘oceanus’, the ‘ea’ in English reflects the Greek and Latin vowels.

Greek Medical Term: ‘Oedema’ comes from Greek, where ‘oi’ represents a long ‘e’ sound, transliterated into English as ‘oe’.

Combination of French and German: ‘Ouija’ combines the French word for ‘yes’, ‘oui’, and the German ‘ja’, reflecting its use in spiritualism.

Greek Roots: From Greek ‘rhythmos’, English has retained the original Greek spelling.

Irish Pronunciation: The Irish version of ‘John’, ‘Sean’ is spelled according to Gaelic orthography, where ‘sean’ is pronounced like ‘shawn’.

French Influence: Coming from the Old French ‘sergent’, the ‘ge’ reflects an earlier pronunciation that has since changed, while the spelling remained.

Greek and Latin Influence: From Greek ‘stomakhos’ and Latin ‘stomachus’, the ‘ch’ was pronounced as a ‘k’ in Middle English and the original pronunciation has persisted.

Distinctive Branding: The dessert name ‘sundae’ was created to offer a unique name that would stand out, potentially to avoid association with the Sabbath.

Celtic and Latin Roots: ‘Thames’ comes from the Latin ‘Tamesis’, which is a Latinized form of a Brittonic name for the river. The ‘th’ is pronounced as ‘t’ due to its Celtic origin.

Spanish and Native American Roots: ‘Tucson’ comes from the Spanish interpretation of a Native American village name, and its pronunciation has been anglicized.

Middle English Roots: ‘What’ comes from the Old English ‘hwæt’. The ‘wh’ indicates an original ‘hw’ sound, which has evolved into a ‘w’ sound in modern English.

Old English Roots: Coming from ‘wolde’, the past tense of ‘will’, ‘would’ retains the ‘l’ due to historical spelling, even though it’s no longer pronounced.