Often'' pronunciation cambridge
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How does the queen pronounce often!
How to Pronounce 'Often'
There’s a t in oftenplay , but often, ahem, you don’t hear it. As you might guess, the t was pronounced in the past, when the word began to be used in the early 1300s as a variant of oft (also spelled ofte in Middle English).
Often pronunciation with t
(Oft was the more common form until the 1500s; it’s now archaic for most of the senses of often, but it is still used in compound adjectives like oft-repeated and oft-quoted. Ofttimes and oftentimes both carry that archaic flavor but are still in active use.) But eventually the t in often fell away in pronunciation, remaining only as a hint of the word’s meaning and origin.
Henry Gillard Glindoni, "John Dee performing an experiment before Queen Elizabeth I." Though Queen Elizabeth did not pronounce the \t\ in 'often', most careful speakers in 17th century England did.
Eventually, standard pronunciation followed the queen's example, but you don't have to.
Silent Medial T’s
Similarly, the medial t in words like soften, hasten, and fasten was originally pronounced, as the -en was added to ba
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