Is there a term to describe words whose pronunciation bears little relationship to their spelling?
The English language is peppered with wonderfully weird spelling/pronunciation combinations. For example
- colonel, pronounced kur-nl, probably my favorite, there isn't even an r in the word!
- Gloucester, pronounced glos-ter
- Worcestershire, pronounced woos-ter-sheer
And the list goes on, wikipedia has an extensive list of strangely pronounced spelled names here. No one unfamiliar with these words would be able to guess how to pronounce them, their pronunciation is usually the product of their particular history. Colonel, for example comes from the French colonel and has kept its original spelling but not its pronunciation.
So, is there a word to describe words whose pronunciation cannot be inferred from their spelling?
Solution 1:
The Wikipedia article on the topic simply refers to these as irregularities, though one might also call them idiosyncrasies or anomalies - though none of those terms refer specifically to words with unusual spelling / pronunciation.
I think the best word to describe such irregularities is aphonetic, though that word seems relatively rare. I didn't find it listed in any dictionary, but here's an example from one of the documents in that Ngram search:
Solution 2:
Someone has suggested that "lef-tenant" originated in a euphemism for toilet: loo (hence, lef instead of loo). See http://forum.thefreedictionary.com/postst7986_Why-do-the-British-say--leftenant--when-they-mean-lieutenant-.aspx, and peterhewett (his explanation). His explanation may be fanciful, but if accurate it would not be the first time pronunciation has been changed because of a potentially embarrassing way to pronounce a word.
In answer to your question, I can't think of a single word for the phenomenon. For a humorous (British, humourous) "take" on spelling and pronunciation (why isn't it spelled pronounciation?) inconsistencies, see http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/english.html. By the way, I credit an EL&U contributor for this cite; I just can't recall his/her moniker.