⟨gh⟩

⟨gh⟩ is an English digraph consisting of the letters G and H. Generally in onset position it is sounded as a hard g sound, but in coda position it is silent or an f sound.

As silent letters

The combinations ⟨igh⟩, ⟨eigh⟩, and ⟨aigh⟩ always have silent ⟨gh⟩:

• ⟨eigh⟩ /eɪ/: eight, freight, neighbor^AmE, neighbour^BrE, weigh, weight;
  • Variation: ⟨aigh⟩ in straight.
• ⟨igh⟩ as /aɪ/: bright, delight, fight, flight, fright, height, high, light, might, night, right, sigh, sight, slight, tight;
• ⟨ugh⟩, after a consonant letter, sounds /ju:/, e.g. Hugh, Hughes,

The combination ⟨augh⟩ is mostly silent and ⟨ough⟩ may be silent:

• ⟨augh⟩ is /ɔː/; caught, daughter, taught
• ⟨ough⟩ is:
  • /ɔː/ bought, fought, nought, ought, sought, , thought;
  • /uː/: through, throughout;
  • /əʊ/: although, dough, though;
  • /aʊ/: drought;

• Edinburgh /ˈedɪnbrə,^BrE ˈedɪnbɜːrə^AmE/

Finishing in /f/

• with /ʌ/: enough, rough, tough
• with /ɑː/: laugh (AmE with /æ/)
• with /ɒ/: cough (AmE with /ɔː/)

As /g/

• Ghana, ghastly, ghetto, ghost, ghoul, Pittsburgh, Singh, spaghetti, yoghurt

Simplifications

• /ˈdəʊnʌt/: donut^AmE, doughnut^{AmE BrE}
• /dræft,^AmE drɑːft^BrE/

flow of cool air: draught^BrE, draft^AmE

rough version: draft

• /ˈhɪkʌp/: hiccough, preferred spelling is "hiccup"
• /plaʊ/: plow^AmE, plough^BrE

Informal spellings in American English

• /ðəʊ/: though (formal), tho' (informal), tho (informal)
• /θruː/: through (formal), thru (informal)

Compound words

gh sometimes occurs across syllable boundaries, where one syllable ends in g and the next begins with h. This is not a digraph. These include:

• /gh/: doghouse, foghorn, jughead
• /ŋh/: longhorn

Exception

The English place name Keighley is pronounced as /ˈki:θli/, so gh represents an unvoiced dental fricative /θ/.