h-dropping
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.26 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The omission of an /h/ sound normally present in a word, making the word "home" sound like "'ome", for example.
adj
Undergoing h-dropping.
Example Sentences
- "More local than us, apparently; I find out that Janet complains that ‘John’s from Herefordshire but he’s not real Herefordshire.’ […] But if I’m honest, I know what she means: I don’t have an h-dropping local accent and speak instead in a detached RP rumble."
- "In England, the most up-to-date research suggests that some 13th-century dialects were h-dropping, but by the time elocution experts came along in the 18th century, they were pointing out what a crime it is."
- "Apart from the two ‘default’ terms of guest-house and inn, they are all host- or harbour-related: hostry, host, hostel, hostelry, hostelar, host-house; harbergery, harbergage. (The initial h- was often omitted in the spelling, indicating the h'''-dropping character of contemporary pronunciation.)"