words - In the word SCENT, is the s silent or is the c silent?

In the word SCENT, is the s silent or is the c silent?

467 viewed last edited 4 years ago

words spellling scent

Ibhanan Kulkarni (Student, 12^th Grade)

I have absolutely no idea what the answer to this is because both answers make sense.

Anonymous (last edited 4 years ago)

The word scent is pronounced /sɛnt/.

To determine which letter is muted, let us take a close look at the etymology of the word scent.

So my best guess is that c is silent and not the s as the old french spelling of it also had an s.

The same seems to be the case with words like scythe and descent.

Vivekanand Vellanki (last edited 4 years ago)

Interesting. Are you suggesting that the c in scythe is silent?

Manomay Shravage (last edited 4 years ago) (Student, 12^th Grade)

In the word scent the letter c is silent and really shouldn't be used in this word. We can pronounce the word scent with only an s in it but they have added a c so we can differentiate between words like scent and sent.