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⟨wh⟩
Wh is an English consonant digraph formed of the letters W and H.
Wh forms the start of wh- words but not all words beginning WH are wh- words. It generally represents a voiced labio-velar approximant /w/ but can also represent an unvoiced glottal fricative /h/. A common non-standard pronunciation following the ᴡɪɴᴇ–ᴡʜɪɴᴇ split sees wh pronounced as an unvoiced labialised velar approximant.
As /w/[edit | edit source]
This is the default; words in this group can be subject to the wine–whine split.
- what, when, whether, which, white, while, whilst, why, etc
As /h/[edit | edit source]
With /w/ as the default, certain words need to be memorised as beginning with /h/:
- who, whom, whose, whole (adv - wholly, and compounds such as wholesome).
Less common words:
- whore, whooping (as in whooping cough, whooping crane), whooper (as in whooper swan)
Across syllable boundaries[edit | edit source]
Wh can also occur across syllable boundaries, in which case it is not a digraph. For example, knowhow is a compound of know+how.
