Non-phonetic Alphabet

Created: 2017.06.06 | Last updated: 2017.12.23

I was travelling with my 5, 3, 2 and 1 year (almost 2) olds (circa 2017) doing the 'A is for ... Apple' game and decided: It is time that I gave them a 'Non-phonetic Alphabet'. Here is my work in progress.

The reason this all started is because, in the middle of the normal phonetic game game I was telling my kids blah blah 'phonetic', try to explain to the older kids the meaning of the word 'phonetic' when all of a sudden my 5 year old said 'Daddy, f is for phonetic' and I realized that it was time to teach her the non-phonetic alphabet.

A is for Aisle, Auxillary, Aether

B is for Bdellium

C is for Czar, Ctenophore

D is for Djembe

E is for Ewe, Eye, Eisenhower, Eurthmics, Eiderdown, Europe, Euthanasia, Extinguish, Eyjafjallajökull

F is for Phonetic (the only wrong one on this page, well other than 'me' below, but after all, that's how this whole thing got started, so I'm content to say F is for Phonetic)

G is for gnat, gaol

H is for honour (honor for my American friends.)

I is for ME! (My 1, almost 2, year old yelled 'me' and slapped her chest when I said "I is for..." so I had to include it here!) Igor works the best and Iguana (yes I know SOME people pronounce iguana with the short i sound, but most I know use the long e sound.)

J is for Jalapno

K is for Knife, Knight, Knee

L is for Llanelli

M is for mneumonic

N is for Nguyen

O is for One, Oestrogen

P is for Pneumonia, Pneumatic and many other pn words, Phlegm, Pterodactly

Q is for Quay, Quiche

R is for Rzeznix

S is for Sgraffitto

T is for Tsunami

U is for Ulghur, Uakari

V is for Vundabar

W is for Write, Wrestle, Wrap

X is for Xylophone

Y is for You

Y is for Yreka, Yttrium

Z is for Zaragoza

I need something for F. I'd also like some better, where better means "more common", ones for B, D, L, N, R, S, U, V, Y and Z

Answering some questions:

What about Vundabar - isn't it pronounced with a V? Well, some do, but because it is a foreign implanted word, it should be pronounced with a W sound at the front and many people do pronounce it correctly, with a "Wah" sound at the front. After I created the initial list in the car with my family, I searched the internet and I've gone through one very large dictionary for V (it had many pages for V) because I was 'ok' with the fun one I had for F, but that still left me with nothing for V. But I could not find a single V word that didn't phonetically start with the v sound, until a friend, Cam Birch, mentioned Vundabar. There is a good chance that, at least as of 2017, there are no English words that will match my requirements for F, but I'll keep my ears open!

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