# Why are there so few English words ending with "v"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-few-english-words-ending-with-v/774374>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 10, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-few-english-words-ending-with-v/774374 "2016-12-10T19:56:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-few-english-words-ending-with-v/774374/41 "2016-12-12T04:24:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Quoth **HeXen** :
> 
> I just want to know why teachers for years told me this was an English rule. ‘I’ comes before ‘e’ except after ‘c’
> 
> weight \<…wait wat? I just think English is a bit overly complicated, certainly more than it needs to be. Then again I have forgotten a lot of what I learned in school

Yes, when you forget half the rule, you will find a lot of exceptions. Use the full rule and you’ll have a lot less (though still a lot of them): “I before E except after C _or when sounded as A as in ‘neighbor’ or ‘weigh’_”. So “weight” isn’t an exception; it’s pronounced exactly as “ei” is supposed to be pronounced. But it doesn’t take an Einstein to see that “weird” is still weird.

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-few-english-words-ending-with-v/774374/42 "2016-12-12T04:50:59Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Yes, when you forget half the rule, you will find a lot of exceptions. Use the full rule and you’ll have a lot less (though still a lot of them): “I before E except after C _or when sounded as A as in ‘neighbor’ or ‘weigh’_”. So “weight” isn’t an exception; it’s pronounced exactly as “ei” is supposed to be pronounced. But it doesn’t take an Einstein to see that “weird” is still weird.

There’s also when the word is derived from a word that is pronounced with a long A sound, then it’s ei. For example _foreign_, which is related to _reign_ (pronounced with a long A). Other exceptions are when the E and I are in two different syllables, such as _science_ or when the word is a fairly recent borrowing from German (e.g. Fahrenheit) where it follows the German rules. None of these apply to _weird_, and I can’t remember off-hand why that one is an exception, but there’s a reason somewhere. The thing is, there’s so many exceptions and reasons for them, you may as well just try to memorize the words and not worry about any rules.

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-few-english-words-ending-with-v/774374/43 "2016-12-12T06:05:19Z")

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> [@dtilque](#):
>
> … None of these apply to _weird_, and I can’t remember off-hand why that one is an exception,…

I always found that exception easy to remember:  
[I before E … except after C](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo&t=71) … and in certain _weird_ words.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-few-english-words-ending-with-v/774374/44 "2016-12-12T12:50:02Z")

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> [@dtilque](#):
>
> The thing is, there’s so many exceptions and reasons for them, you may as well just try to memorize the words and not worry about any rules.

I did some greps of my thesis years ago. Indeed, there were more exceptions to the “full” rule than there were non-exceptions.

It _is_ utter nonsense and the claim that it is a rule at all has to be stopped.

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**Author:** ![40below](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/51bf81/32.png) [@40below](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/40below)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-few-english-words-ending-with-v/774374/45 "2016-12-12T14:54:55Z")

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I would argue that ‘satnav’ is on its way into standard dictionaries and will soon be playable in Scrabble.

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