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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Spelling ie vs. ei #225881 11/01/16 09:48 PM 11/01/16 09:48 PM Joined: Oct 2016 Posts: 1 S Storysmith OP stranger Storysmith   OP stranger S 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"?) Re: Spelling ie vs. ei [Re: Storysmith] #225884 11/01/16 11:22 PM 11/01/16 11:22 PM Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,228 Land of the Flat Water LukeJavan8 Carpal Tunnel LukeJavan8   Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2008 Posts: 9,228 Land of the Flat Water WELCOME ----please, draw me a sheep---- Re: Spelling ie vs. ei [Re: Storysmith] #225893 11/03/16 01:28 AM 11/03/16 01:28 AM Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 8,113 Worcester, MA W wofahulicodoc Carpal Tunnel wofahulicodoc   Carpal Tunnel W Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 8,113 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 Topics13,887 Posts225,145 Members9,066 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members MOAM, Mrcheetah, Ratharax, LVM, SHOSHOLOZA 9066 Registered Users Who's Online Now 1 registered members (1 invisible), 128 guests, and 3 spiders. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 57 A C Bowden 36 LukeJavan8 28 Tromboniator 2 drad_dog 1 MOAM 1 Top Posters(All Time) wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 tsuwm 10,538 LukeJavan8 9,227 wofahulicodoc 8,113 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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