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Is haphazard the only word where ph is not pronounced like /f/?

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In Stephen, it's pronounced "v". – Peter Shor May 8 '12 at 19:13
Yo, homies: hiphop. – Kaz May 8 '12 at 22:09
There are lots of compound words (and former compound words) where ph or th got pushed together without forming the characteristic sound; haphazard (a hazard that happens) is one such word. A word that might not be in that category is "upholstery", if only because no one seems to know where the word came from at all. – Malvolio May 8 '12 at 23:59
Why don't you ask a shepherd? – user16269 May 9 '12 at 8:51

No. Trying to find other examples is an uphill battle, though.

In greater detail: Words that came from Greek and have a 'ph' in a single morpheme tend to use the /f/ pronunciation (except some cases like "Stephen" where it's /v/ — voiced instead of unvoiced). However, words that were formed by combining separate morphemes (such as uphill, loophole, haphazard, etc) have a 'ph' that belongs to two morphemes and does not represent an /f/ sound.

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You had to go out to the aphelion for such an upheaval. – Robusto May 8 '12 at 18:47
Aphelion has one pronunciation that upholds the point, another that doesn't. – jwpat7 May 8 '12 at 19:05
@jwpat7 - Stop now, before you hurt his aphelions. – MT_Head May 8 '12 at 20:40
@jwpat7 Hm, “uphold” … is that pronounced /ˌə'fōld/? Or is it another loofole? – Konrad Rudolph May 8 '12 at 20:47
The OED (1973) explains the pronunciation in its etymology - that it's derived from aph + helios (αϕ + ηλιος), and the two Hs kind of merged. So it looks like the "F" pronunciation would actually be more correct. This surprises me - I've always given it the "P-H" pronunciation. I shall henceforth change. – user16269 May 9 '12 at 10:52

Yes 'haphazard' is a unique word which has 'ph' and is not pronounced as 'f'(a few people may suggest 'amphitheater' as another word but I can't say for sure). However, there are several compound words where 'ph' doesn't sound like 'f' when pronounced. A few of such compound words are:

flophouse, loophole, peephole, uphill, uphold, upholster.

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Note that haphazard was also originally a compound (NOAD, M-W). My guess is that this is the reason for all cases. It is the same way with porthole. – zpletan May 8 '12 at 19:15
Also, amphitheater, coming as it does from Greek, should have the 'f' sound. – zpletan May 8 '12 at 19:17
Your answer contradicts itself. "peephole" has a "ph" as much as "haphazard" does. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 May 8 '12 at 20:21
"Unique" means "the only one" – Mark Beadles May 8 '12 at 20:31
When is the last time you saw "upholstery" or "upholster" hyphenated? They are as much units as "haphazard" is now. As for downvotes, I feel that if your answer had recognized that "haphazard" is not unique, if you had researched more about "amphitheater", and if you had not called "upholster" a compound word, your answer would have been better. I didn't feel the need to submit an answer since Mr Shiny and New has a fine one. – Mark Beadles May 8 '12 at 22:03

protected by RegDwigнt May 8 '12 at 21:33


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