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Why is meter spelled "metre" in English? English is a Germanic language, and Germanic languages like Dutch and German happen to have the perfectly reasonable wo
by Aardwolf 14y ago
Why is meter spelled "metre" in English? English is a Germanic language, and Germanic languages like Dutch and German happen to have the perfectly reasonable word "meter" for this. But for some reason English chose the romance French spelling "metre", that looks really odd outside of French. Why?
- madaxe 14y agoWe formalised spelling in the 18th c., independently of one another. No particular reason beyond that, afaik.
- opminion 14y agoIt's consistent with "centre" vs American "center"
- Camillo 14y agoBecause the word has its origin in the Greek metron, and has nothing to do with Germanic languages whatsoever. Besides, there are countless precedents of English words with a mute final "e" and a schwa inserted between two consonants, e.g. "little".