Does your language pronounce the P in Greek-derived pn-, ps-, and pt- words?
July 30, 2025
Like pneumatic, psychic, and pterodactyl. It is silent in English.
33 comments
It is pronounced in Modern Greek, but I guess this answer is redundant.
Yes, in both my native languages (Mirandese and Portuguese)
~~I believe this is the norm in Iberia~~ it is not
Yes, it is pronounced in Czech
Yes, they are pronounced in Latvian
Yes, in Lithuanian.
Yes, in Finnish.
They are pronounced in German
Ps are absolutely pronouced in Polish.
First time i heard that P in pterodactyl is silent in English i was so weirded out. And i am still weirded out reading this psot lol
What’s the point of writing Ps if you don’t want to pronounce them? xp
Yes, they’re all pronounced in Dutch.
I don’t actually know any words starting with pn- though, and for pt- I only know pterodactyl and the name Ptolemaeus (and helikopter). Ps- is more common and isn’t considered difficult to pronounce.
Yes, it’s pronounced in bulgarian.
Yes, in Ukrainian we pronounce it in this words.
In English no and in the Irish language, the situation doesn’t arise as the silent p in those cases is dropped from the spellingfor example
Psychology ( English) is Síceolaíocht (Irish)
In Swedish, it seems it depends. Words related to psyche (psykologi, psykiatri, psykos etc) generally have silent ps, although it is not considered weong to pronounce the p either.
On the other hand, pneumatik is generally pronounced with an audible p.
Edit: In Finnish I believe the p is always pronounced in those words
Yes (Italian). My understanding is that the silent p is a characteristic of the English language, evolving it lost the sound, but kept the letter.
Fun fact, the word *ptarmigan* has a silent p, but it was added, because it was thought that the word was of Greek origin. It comes from the Gaelic *tarmachan*
Yes, and it’s honestly so weird that English can’t. Don’t you say “pspspspspsps” to your cats?
Finnish language pronounced all letters.
We don’t have unnecessary letters.
We don’t really have such words but yea, ofc we would pronounce the p. Though, for example ”traktori” can be raktori, so yea in spoken language the p could vanish
Yes in Croatian..
Yes. In all cases it is pronounced.
I don’t think that type has ever appeared in the Irish language. I don’t think it’s pronounced though
I actually have to wring my brain trying to answer this because we drop so many sounds without really noticing that we do it, but… somewhat?
We definitely drop the p when it comes before an s (it’s sykolog not psykolog) but with ts and ns I’m less sure. Like, I *feel* like I say pteranodon different than I would teranodon, that there is a hint of the p… but then I feel the same about a lot of the sounds I’m told we don’t pronounce whatsoever. The dictionary says there is a p in the pronounciation guide for pneumatic?
Overall we don’t use as many Greek loan words as English does since a lot of medical and technical terms have Germanic everyday replacements (tooth doctor not dentist for example, and belly spit gland not pancreas), so it comes up less than you’d expect.
It varies from word to word. Words like psyche and pseudo have the p be silent
Words like pneumatic and pterodactyl have the p pronounced
English is the odd one out, pretty much all other European languages pronounce these Ps (can’t say for non-European languages, a lot of them probably got their pronunciation probably from contact with English anyways).
Yes, P is pronounced in Italian, no matter its position in the word or the etymology.
As a matter of fact, the only silent letter in Italian is H.
I don’t think Icelandic uses any pn-, ps- or pt- words. Not at the beginning of words, at least.
Mostly not thought the P is not silent in Helicopter
Yes we do.
Theoretically, Finnish does pronounce every letter. Colloquially less so.
All three are pronounced in Italian
Yep , we don’t like writing stuff you don’t pronounce.
That’s why the Dutch word for philosophy is filosofie.
My language is phonetic. We write as we speak, read as it is written. No letter swallowing, no adding sounds that aren’t there.
I know French does.
And if anyone is wondering: yes, the P is pronounced in Greek.
33 comments
It is pronounced in Modern Greek, but I guess this answer is redundant.
Yes, in both my native languages (Mirandese and Portuguese)
~~I believe this is the norm in Iberia~~ it is not
Yes, it is pronounced in Czech
Yes, they are pronounced in Latvian
Yes, in Lithuanian.
Yes, in Finnish.
They are pronounced in German
Ps are absolutely pronouced in Polish.
First time i heard that P in pterodactyl is silent in English i was so weirded out. And i am still weirded out reading this psot lol
What’s the point of writing Ps if you don’t want to pronounce them? xp
Yes, they’re all pronounced in Dutch.
I don’t actually know any words starting with pn- though, and for pt- I only know pterodactyl and the name Ptolemaeus (and helikopter). Ps- is more common and isn’t considered difficult to pronounce.
Yes, it’s pronounced in bulgarian.
Yes, in Ukrainian we pronounce it in this words.
In English no and in the Irish language, the situation doesn’t arise as the silent p in those cases is dropped from the spellingfor example
Psychology ( English) is Síceolaíocht (Irish)
In Swedish, it seems it depends. Words related to psyche (psykologi, psykiatri, psykos etc) generally have silent ps, although it is not considered weong to pronounce the p either.
On the other hand, pneumatik is generally pronounced with an audible p.
Edit: In Finnish I believe the p is always pronounced in those words
Yes (Italian). My understanding is that the silent p is a characteristic of the English language, evolving it lost the sound, but kept the letter.
Fun fact, the word *ptarmigan* has a silent p, but it was added, because it was thought that the word was of Greek origin. It comes from the Gaelic *tarmachan*
QI: https://youtu.be/5-9o4IwHdRI
Yes, in turkish and circassian.
Yes, and it’s honestly so weird that English can’t. Don’t you say “pspspspspsps” to your cats?
Finnish language pronounced all letters.
We don’t have unnecessary letters.
We don’t really have such words but yea, ofc we would pronounce the p. Though, for example ”traktori” can be raktori, so yea in spoken language the p could vanish
Yes in Croatian..
Yes. In all cases it is pronounced.
I don’t think that type has ever appeared in the Irish language. I don’t think it’s pronounced though
I actually have to wring my brain trying to answer this because we drop so many sounds without really noticing that we do it, but… somewhat?
We definitely drop the p when it comes before an s (it’s sykolog not psykolog) but with ts and ns I’m less sure. Like, I *feel* like I say pteranodon different than I would teranodon, that there is a hint of the p… but then I feel the same about a lot of the sounds I’m told we don’t pronounce whatsoever. The dictionary says there is a p in the pronounciation guide for pneumatic?
Overall we don’t use as many Greek loan words as English does since a lot of medical and technical terms have Germanic everyday replacements (tooth doctor not dentist for example, and belly spit gland not pancreas), so it comes up less than you’d expect.
It varies from word to word. Words like psyche and pseudo have the p be silent
Words like pneumatic and pterodactyl have the p pronounced
English is the odd one out, pretty much all other European languages pronounce these Ps (can’t say for non-European languages, a lot of them probably got their pronunciation probably from contact with English anyways).
Yes, P is pronounced in Italian, no matter its position in the word or the etymology.
As a matter of fact, the only silent letter in Italian is H.
I don’t think Icelandic uses any pn-, ps- or pt- words. Not at the beginning of words, at least.
Mostly not thought the P is not silent in Helicopter
Yes we do.
Theoretically, Finnish does pronounce every letter. Colloquially less so.
All three are pronounced in Italian
Yep , we don’t like writing stuff you don’t pronounce.
That’s why the Dutch word for philosophy is filosofie.
My language is phonetic. We write as we speak, read as it is written. No letter swallowing, no adding sounds that aren’t there.
I know French does.
And if anyone is wondering: yes, the P is pronounced in Greek.