Learn English Logo

Interesting Word - Yog

'Yogh', pronounced "yog", is a letter in old English and Scots which has no exact equivalent today. It used to be written a bit like the old copperplate-style "z" (it looked like a 3), helps explain the discrepancy between the spelling of Menzies and the pronunciation "Mingis".

The rise of printing in the 16th Century coincided with the decline of the yogh, and so it tended to be rendered in print as a "z", and pronounced as such.

(This means that newsagent John Menzies is more properly pronounced John Ming-iss.)

Discover more from Learn English

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram