Trigraph (orthography)
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A trigraph (from the Greek words treis = three and graphein = write) is a group of three letters used to represent a single sound or a combination of sounds that does not correspond to the written letters combined. For example, in the word "schilling", the trigraph "sch" represents the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/, rather than the consonant cluster /skh/. In the word night, "igh" represents the vowel /aɪ/ (a diphthong), rather than the sequence of sounds /igh/. Another example of a trigraph is "eau" in the English word beautiful (pronounced /ju/), or in the French word château (pronounced /o/).
The trigraph "sch" originates from German, where it is equivalent to the English "sh"; it is not regarded as an independent letter in German orthography. In Hungarian, the trigraph "dzs" is treated as a letter, with its own place in the alphabet. It is prononounced like an English "j" /dʒ/. The combination "gl(i)" in Italian ("gl" before an isolated "i", "gli" before other vowels) can also be a trigraph, representing the palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/.
Longer "multigraphs" are also known. It is quite possible that the longest one is an "octagraph" "schtschj" used in German language to represent a Russian language palatalized phoneme щь (which is represented by a digraph in Russian). According to the Peterburg phonetics school, this is not a regular phoneme of the Russian language, so the record may as well be attributed to the "heptagraph" "schtsch" for the phoneme щ as in the German spelling of the Slavic word borshch/borscht (Ukrainian/Russian spelling: борщ borshch, German spelling: Borschtsch).[1]
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Digraphs |
Aa aa Ae ae Ai ai Au au Aw aw Ay ay Bh bh Ch ch Ck ck Cö cö Cs cs Cu cu Cz cz Dd dd Dh dh Dj dj Dx dx Dz dz Dž dž Dź dź Dż dż Ea ea Ee ee Ei ei Eu eu Ew ew Ey ey Ff ff Fh fh Gb gb Gh gh Għ għ Gi gi Gj gj Gn gn Gy gy Hs hs Hu hu Ie ie IJ ij Jö jö Kh kh Kp kp Ku ku Lh lh Lj lj Ll ll Ly ly Mb mb Mh mh Mp mp Nd nd Ng ng Nh nh Nj nj Nk nk Ns ns Nt nt Ny ny Nz nz Oa oa Oe oe Oi oi Oo oo Ou ou Ow ow Oy oy Ph ph Qu qu Rd rd Rh rh Rl rl Rn rn Rr rr Rt rt Rz rz Sh sh Sv sv Sy sy Sz sz Th th Tj tj Tr tr Ts ts Tx tx Ty ty Tz tz Ue ue Ui ui Vh vh Wh wh Xh xh Xö xö Yh yh Yk yk Zh zh Zs zs Zv zv |
Trigraphs |
C'h c'h Dzs dzs Eau eau Ngb ngb Ngh ngh Ngk ngk Nkp nkp Nth nth Nyk nyk Rnd rnd Sch sch |
Tetragraphs |