Word of the Day

[mathhobbit]

Fledgling

I feel like this word is breaking some rules in order to follow others.

Comments

[kelkyag]

<headtilt> I can sort of see that. It sounds fine, though, as a -ling compound.

English: that's more of a guideline, really ...

[mathhobbit]

But what happened to the e? Shouldn't fledgling rhyme with eggling?

[kelkyag]

Why was that e there in the first place? It's not the end-of-word silent e that marks the previous vowel as long. If the e stayed fledgling would look like a three-syllable word.

Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but to my ear fledgling fails to rhyme with eggling because there's a "dg" instead of a "gg", and to me that's a different rhythm and sound.

[mathhobbit]

Ah, I think there may be German words where dg is pronounced differently. I have very little German, but I learned it young.