Ok so my dad started and anti phonetic alphabet and we're stuck on "i" does anyone know a word that starts with a silent "i" ?

an ‘anti-phonetic’ alphabet?—-is intrigued -

Heh. That’s awesome.

Most of the vowels are going to be tough for the fact that in english you almost always pronounce i’s. If you could find a word that started with “ieu” that would probably do it.

Went digging in the paper dictionary: Ibo (starts with a schwa, so is pronounced ee-bow)

@TheOnlyException If she doesn’t explain—the idea is that you have words that don’t sound like they start with the letter. E.g., “C” is for Challah. (Which is pronounced Hal-lah)

Yes!! Someone gets the idea!! (dances around with joy)

If you say it fast, iatrogenic. from the Greek iatros (physician). And Challah is pronounced with a decided throat-clearing “ch.” Any good balabusta would sneer at—Hallah.

@gailcalled It’s properly pronounced with a nice throat clearing “ch”, but most Americans don’t pronounce it correctly =)

@grumpyfish: True. Let the spittle fly and say “Challelujah.”

Oy vey. I could kvetch.

Haha well this isn’t getting me anywhere…

Do they have to be English words? There are lots of Latin words that start with “i” but sound as if they start with a “y” such as “ianua” door and “iudex” judge.

well english WOULD be funnier…

So how about “iudge”?

lol but seriously i’ve scoured every (ok maybe not EVERY, but…) website, book, magazine and dictionary known to mankind and pulled up wait for it…squat-nothing-nada-zero-zilch-and-goose-egg

ok…...........
is ANYONE gonna answer????

Yah, I did ^^. Iatrogenesis is a legitimate English word (borrowed, of course, from the Greek).

BORING

How about US pronunciation of ilala? That was at https://web.cs.dal.ca/~jamie/Words/alphabet.html