Ough is a letter sequence often seen in words in the English language. In Middle English, where the spelling arose, it was probably pronounced with a back rounded vowel and a velar fricative, e.g., [oːx] or [uːx]. It is by far the sequence of letters with the most unpredictable pronunciation, having at least six pronunciations in North American English and over ten in British English. A few of the more common are these:
Contents |
| Pronunciation | Example | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| /ʌf/ | tough, enough, hough | Compare "huff" |
| /ɒf/ | cough, trough | Trough is pronounced /trɒθ/ by some speakers of American English |
| /aʊ/ | bough, plough | Pronounced like the word 'Ow' |
| /oʊ/ | though, dough | |
| /ɔː/ | thought, bought | Regularly used before /t/, except in drought /draʊt/ |
| /uː/ | through, brougham | |
| /ə/ | thorough, borough | Both pronounced /oʊ/ in American English |
| /ʌp/ | hiccough | Variant spelling of "hiccup", though the latter form is recommended in both British and US |
| /ɒk/ | hough | More commonly spelled "hock" from the 20th Century onwards |
| /ɒx/ | lough | A lake; Irish analogue of Scots "loch" |
Note that "slough" has three pronunciations according to meaning:
Other pronunciations can be found in proper nouns, many of which are of Celtic origin (Irish, Scottish, or Welsh) rather than English. For example ough can represent /ɔːk/ in the surname Coughlin, /juː/ in Ayscough and even /iː/ in the name Colcolough (/koʊkliː/) in Virginia [1].
The original pronunciation in all cases except hiccough was the one of lough. However the /x/ sound has disappeared from most modern English dialects. As it faded, different speakers replaced it by different near equivalents in different words (namely, /f/, /w/ → /ʊ/, /ː/, or /k/).
The two "ough"s in the English place name Loughborough are pronounced differently, resulting in Luffburruh. Additionally, three parishes of Milton Keynes--Woughton /ˈwʌftən/, Loughton /ˈlaʊtən/ and Broughton /ˈbrɔːtən/--all have different pronunciations of the combination.
Tough, though, through, and thorough are formed by adding an additional letter each time, yet none of them rhymes with another.
Some humorous verse has been written to illustrate this seeming incongruity:
A comparable group is omb, which can be pronounced in at least four ways: bomb /bɒm/ (rhymes with Tom), comb /koʊm/ (rhymes with home), sombre /ˈsɒmbə/, and tomb /tuːm/ (rhymes with gloom).
augh is visually rather similar to ough but admits much less pronunciation variation.
Because of the unpredictability of the combination, many English spelling reformers have proposed replacing it with more phonetic combinations, some of which have caught-on in varying degrees of formal and informal success. Generally, spelling reforms have been more widely accepted in the United States and less so in the Commonwealth.
In April 1984, at its yearly meeting, the Simplified Spelling Society adopted the following reform as its house style:[2][3]
These spellings are generally considered unacceptable in most of the Commonwealth, but are standard in the United States.
However, both of these are considered unacceptable in British English and formal American English.