Medical Terminology / Unit 1 MedTerm 0029 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Silent Initial Letters
Captions available
The idea
When a medical term begins with p n, p s, p t, g n, or m n, the first letter is silent in English.
In practice
Pneumonia begins with a silent p, spoken as new MOH nee uh.
Where people slip
The letter is silent, not optional. Dropping it from the spelling makes the term unsearchable.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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