a) HAYCH
b) AYTCH
cheers
SC
How do you pronounce the letter 'H' in english???
Option B!! Like the pictures!
Neither, coz it's silent innit.
"HUH"
option B is the name of the letter, pronounced like "huh", and proceed by "an" and not "a".
Poll added
option B, i think...
"Har" -we are in Swissieland, after all.
Hmm I voted A) but it seems I have been pronouncing it wrong...
According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, the pronounciation is uniform between American and British English.
The phonetic description is: /eɪtʃ/ which is clearly without the H sound like in Home, but rather the silent H as in Honour.
See here
Option B, it's silent in this case. You'd know if you were a foreigner, it's one of those things the teacher insists on
or "Ash" if one lives in Romandie
Option B is the correct pronunciation for the name of the letter. The phonetic prononciation however is how KF said above, "huh".
Sill aytch...
..... or "Hash" if one lives in Morocco - although the "H" would become silent after a while, followed by the "a", then "s" and finally the 2nd "h" as comatose sets in.
Well I am (a) Lizzy and I say it like Option B
It drives me up the wall when somebody says "haytch". As far as I am aware this is only done by the British and then only by a certain segment of the population. I am going to go bang my head against the wall now
I pronounce it "aitch" which is the correct way to pronounce it and spell it. I have 2 in my surname and had the correct pronunciation drilled into my by my Dad.
It is also one of, if not the only, letters of the alphabet that is officially written as a word in the dictionary. It is definitely in the dictionary, but not sure is it's the only one as can't be bothered to check!
In the UK it's a class shibboleth - "haitch" is supposedly non-u.
I'm sure I've heard some Americans say "haitch" as well. Don't know if people really notice the difference anyway.
I have to say that whilst I do think (agree) that "aitch" is right, I don't really care - OP, why are you asking?
A) Everything our parents told us is wrong.
B)
British English dictionaries give aytch as the standard pronunciation for the letter H. However, the pronunciation haytch is also attested as a legitimate variant. We also do not ask broadcasters who naturally say haytch to change their pronunciation but if a broadcaster contacted to ask us, we would tell them that aytch is regarded as the standard pronunciation in British English, people can feel very strongly about this and this pronunciation is less likely to attract audience complaints.
Haytch is a standard pronunciation in Irish English and is increasingly being used by native English-speaking people all across the country, irrespective of geographical provenance or social standing. Polls have shown that the uptake of haytch by younger native speakers is on the rise. Schoolchildren repeatedly being told not to drop Hs may cause them to hyper-correct and insert them where they don't exist.