|
I before e, except after c is a mnemonic used to help English students remember how to spell certain words in the English language. It means that, in words where i and e fall together, the order is ie, except directly following c, when it is ei. For example: Unfortunately, in its short form the rule has many common exceptions, e.g.: The word oneiromancies (studies into the meaning of dreams) breaks the rule twice, in both ways. The words deficiencies, efficiencies, sufficiencies, zeitgeist and einsteinium break the rule twice in the same way (though the last two are of foreign origin). An augmented American version is: i before e except after c or when sounding like a as in neighbor and weigh which excludes many of the exceptions but still fails to correctly handle many others. A lesser known addendum in America is: Neither financier seized either species of weird leisure. A British version is: when the sound is ee it's i before e except after c which excludes most exceptions, as well as excluding some words (e.g. friend) which are correctly handled by the American version. The most frequent everyday failures of the British form of the rule are seize, caffeine, protein and, for those who pronounce the initial vowel sound ee, either and neither. Weird and weir are often listed as exceptions but this is contentious as the 'i' is detectable in the pronunciation. Words with a plural ending in -cies (agencies, policies etc.) are exceptions to those who pronounce the ending eez, but not to those who pronounce it with a shorter iz sound. Few common words have the
Exceptions albeit ancient atheism beige being caffeine casein cleidoic codeine conscience counterfeit deficient (deficiencies) deify deity deign deil disseize dreidel efficient eider eight either feign feint feisty financier foreign forfeit freight geisha glacier gleization gneiss greige greisen heifer heigh-ho height heinous heir heist inveigle kaleidoscope keister leisure leitmotiv monteith neigh neighbor neither obeisance omniscient onomatopoeia peignoir phenolphthalein phthalein prescient proficient protein reign reimburse rein reinforce reinstate reveille Rotweiller science seeing seiche seidel seine seismic seize seizin sheik sheila society sovereign specie species sufficient surfeit surveillance teiid their veil vein weight weir weird | ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
 |
|
| |