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List of Latin-script pentagraphs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Latin script, pentagraphs are found primarily in Irish orthography. There is one archaic pentagraph in German orthography, which is found in the English words Nietzschean and derivatives (Nietzscheanism, Nietzscheanist, Nietzscheism, Nietzscheist).

Irish

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Used between a velarized ("broad") and a palatalized ("slender") consonant:

abhai, obhai, odhai, and oghai are used to write /əu̯/ (like RP 'oa' in 'goat'; /oː/ in Ulster)

amhai is used to write /əu̯/

adhai and aghai are used to write /əi̯/ (/eː/ in Ulster)

aidhe, aighe, oidhi, oidhe, oighi and oidhe are used to write /əi̯/

omhai is used to write /oː/

umhai is used to write /uː/

Used between a slender and a broad consonant:

eabha and eobha used to write /əu̯/ (/oː/ in Ulster)

eamha is used to write /əu̯/

eadha and eagha are used to write /əi̯/ (/eː/ in Ulster)

eomha is used to write /oː/

Used between two slender consonants:

eidhi and eighi are used to write /əi̯/:

Dutch

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sjtsj is used as the transcription of the Cyrillic letter Щ, representing the consonant /ɕː/ in Russian, for example in the name Chroesjtsjov.

English

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augha is used in the English names Gaughan and Vaughan to represent the sound /ɔː/.

French

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chtch is used as the transcription of the Cyrillic letter Щ, representing the consonant /ɕː/ in Russian, for example in the name Khrouchtchev.

cques is pronounced as /k(ə)/ when the silent plural suffix -s is added to the tetragraph cque and in the proper name Jacques.

German

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tzsch was once used in German to write the sound /tʃ/ (ch as in cheese). It has largely been replaced by the tetragraph ⟨tsch⟩, but is still found in proper names such as Tzschirner, Nietzsche, and Delitzsch.