mute e

mute e

The letter e is mute or silent at the end of words such as excite, move, sale, and rare. In adding suffixes to these words, the question arises whether the final e should be retained (as it is in changeable) or dropped (as it is more usually, e.g. in excitable and latish). Choice is partly a matter of convention from word to word and partly determined by principles, the most important of which are that final -e is retained when a suffix is added (1) when e preserves the soft sound of a preceding consonant (as in change), (2) when the presence of the e distinguishes the root from another word (e.g. route (= to send by a particular route) gives routeing to distinguish it from forms of the verb rout), and (3) when the suffix begins with a consonant (as in judge / judgement (although judgment is also used) and change / changeling). The following table illustrates the commonest types, and some of the examples represent others (in some cases many others) of the same type:

acknowledge / acknowledgement (occasionally acknowledgment)

age / ageing

blue / bluey

change / changeable, changeling, changing

dye / dyeing

excite / excitable

gauge / gaugeable

glue / gluey

hinge / hingeing

hire / hireling

judge / judgement (occasionally judgment)

late / latish

like / likeable, likely

love / lovable, loving

mouse / mousy

move / movable

notice / noticeable

rare / rarer

rate / rateable

route / routeing

sale / saleable

whole / wholly