Colney COney Hatch

De Beauvoir BEAver Town (usu.)

Marylebone MARlyb'n (alt.)

Plaistow PLAHsto

Ruislip RYslip

Greenwich GRENidge

Southwark SU-ðərK

Vauxhall VOK-sawl

Dulwich DULLidge

Chiswick CHIZick

Isleworth Ayezəlworth

Thamesmead TEMZmead

A map of irregularly spelled places in London

This is a sublist of List of irregularly spelled English names.

These common suffixes have these regular pronunciations, yet would be counterintuitive (irregular) in normal English:

• -b(o)rough and -burgh – /bərə/
• -bury – /bri/
• -cester – /stər/^{[n 1]}
• -combe, -coombe, -comb and -cambe – /kəm/. When stand-alone: always /kuːm/ (including in place names such as Castle Combe and Coombe Bissett)
• -ford – /fərd/
• -gh – silent (usually as 'f' in a considerable minority of northern English place names and in Woughton, Milton Keynes)
• -ham – /əm/
• -holm(e) – /hoʊm/, /əm/
• -mouth – /məθ/
• -shire – /ʃər/, /ʃɪər/, /ʃaɪər/ (esp. in Scotland)
• -wich - /ɪtʃ/, /ɪdʒ/^{[n 2]}
• -wick – /ɪk/^{[n 3][n 4]}

Prefixes:

• Al- – /ˈɒl/, /ˈɔːl/; with very few exceptions such as Alba, Alperton.
• Saint- – /sənt/, for most speakers.

Other:

• -on- – /ˈʌn/ as first syllable is usually as in London, Coningsby or Tonbridge (see Middle English handwriting preventing 'un' and 'um'); excludes a few such as Lonsdale

List

See Also

• List of irregularly spelled places in the United States

Notes

References

Further reading

• G. M. Miller, ed. (1971). BBC pronouncing dictionary of British names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-431125-2.