Are there other words with the same weird spelling / pronunciation combo as "victual"?

Did you think of indict? That is pronounced "in-DITE".

There's a good "bt" one: subtle, pronounced "SUT-tl". The only other "bt" words in which the "bt" is pronounced "t" are: debt and doubt.


With ct at the start of the word, the c is silent in the ctenoid.


"Indict" is pronounced "in-dite". Oddly enough, it used to be spelled without a "c" (endite, endight, endyte, indite, ...), as in Old French enditer. The "c" was inserted to make it more like Latin (indictare), just like in your victual example.

Words from drm65's answer follow the same pattern.

  • "subtle" was "sutel" (Old French soutil) but the Latin is subtilis and so we put the "b" back that the French had dropped.

  • "debt" was "det", from Old French dete, and the Latin is debitum

  • "doubt" was "dout", from Old French doter, and the Latin is dubium


"Blackguard" is pronounced like "blaggard," with the latter even being an alternative spelling, similar to "victual"'s alternative spelling, "vittle."