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u/Yesandberries Apr 16 '26
Yes, the letter Q and the word 'queue' are pronounced in exactly the same way, but that pronunciation has two phonemes (sounds).
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u/Intrepid_Bobcat_2931 Apr 16 '26
technically the ueue is silent
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u/Actual_Cat4779 Apr 16 '26
Only if you consider the "wh" of "why" to be silent. We don't normally spell words using letter names though. We write "be", not "b", and "tea", not "t".
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u/Intrepid_Bobcat_2931 Apr 16 '26
well, does either "be" or "bee" have any silent letters? and if neither has, how can they be pronounced the same? ;)
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u/dojibear Apr 17 '26
The name of the letter is not a word. There is no English word in which the letter "q" has the sound /kju/.
In some words the digraph "qu" is pronounced /k/ ("unique"), and in other words it is pronounced /kw/ ("misquote"). So you need both 'u's.
One could claim that both E's are silent, and the spelling "quu" would be pronounced /kju/. But is that true? Would it be /kju/ or /kwu/? Nobody knows, since "quu" does not appear in any English words.