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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread #225881 - 11/01/16 09:48 PM Spelling ie vs. ei   Joined: Oct 2016 Posts: 1 Storysmith stranger Storysmith   stranger Joined: Oct 2016 Posts: 1 As a child I learned the spelling rhyme: “i" before “e” except after “c” or when sounding like “a” as in neighbor and weigh. This has helped me spell many words according to the recommended standard, including (“i” before “e”) wield, piedmont, lien, diesel lenient, piece, mien, lieutenant (except after “c”) ceiling, conceit, receive (or when sounding like “a”) feint, neigh, sleigh But there are words that don’t follow this rule, that don’t have a long “a” sound, and aren’t after a “c", such as height (sounding like a long “i”) seize (sounding like a long “e”) sleight (sounding like a long “i”) Is there some historical etymological reason behind these anomalies? For that matter, is there some historical reason behind the “rule” in the rhyme? (And does anyone know of exceptions that have an "ie" after "c"?) #225884 - 11/01/16 11:22 PM Re: Spelling ie vs. ei [Re: Storysmith]   Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,120 LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel LukeJavan8   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,120 Land of the Flat Water WELCOME ----please, draw me a sheep---- #225893 - 11/03/16 01:28 AM Re: Spelling ie vs. ei [Re: Storysmith]   Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 7,879 wofahulicodoc Carpal Tunnel wofahulicodoc   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 7,879 Worcester, MA ...And does anyone know of exceptions that have an "ie" after "c"? prophecies science species and a raft of others. Go to onelook.com and enter " *cie* " -- you don't even have to Enter it; just look in the dropdown! Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------   Information and announcements   Q&A about words   Wordplay and fun   Words and languages in schools   Miscellany   Weekly Themes   Looking for (writers, speakers, ...) (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) ------   Words from medicine   Beheading words   Meta-words   Words from classical mythology   Animal Safari   Words with unusual etymologies   Eponyms or words derived from people's names.   Loanwords from German   English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode View Profile Send Private Message View Homepage Follow User Show Forum Posts View Profile Send Private Message Follow User Show Forum Posts View Profile Send Private Message Follow User Show Forum Posts Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,880 Posts224,653 Members9,045 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members DavidOrigami, RichEngle, Stosh2010, CarolWilliamson, Farscape07 9045 Registered Users Who's Online Now 0 registered members (), 88 guests, and 4 spiders. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 55 A C Bowden 29 LukeJavan8 12 may2point0 1 Top Posters(All Time) wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 tsuwm 10,538 LukeJavan8 9,120 wofahulicodoc 7,879 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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