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We probably all remember the one well-known spelling rule in English: I before E except after C, or the longer version: I before E except after C or when sounded like A as in "neighbor" or "weigh." But we also know there are all kinds of exceptions. And there are ways people have tried to patch the rule up to make it work. I don't consider a rule useful unless it covers all cases, so I have come up with two corrected versions of the rule that both cover all cases, listing all exceptions as necessary. The first, the Simplest I Before E Rule, has only 2 full exceptions and 8 sometimes exceptions (but only works for words with an E sound). The second, the Improved I Before E Rule, handles all cases and gets away with only 22 exceptions. Just remember, a weird foreigner neither seizes leisure nor forfeits height, being either a sovereign sheik or counterfeit geisha. |
The spirit of the rule is to apply only to digraphs, letter pairs (i.e. "ie" or "ei") which are pronounced as one sound, and also just to roots and not when roots join to prefixes or suffixes. The "ie" in "science" is not a digraph and also is used to join the root "scire" = "to know" to the suffix "-ence" = "a state or quality", so should not be held by the rule. The same root and suffix appears in "conscience" (which also uses the prefix "con" = "with") and so it is not fair to hold to the rule in this case either. Although it is pronounced as one syllable and not two, it is just as the unstressed vowel schwa ("ə"), so it should not be confused with a true digraph either. |
The Simplest I Before E Rule, Handling only E sounded words |
Here is the Simple Rule (for E words only!) |
Examples that follow the rule |
Use I before E when sounded like E |
ie =believe, field, yield, priest, shield, thief |
Except after C
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ceil=ceil, ceiling ceip=receipt, receiptor ceit=conceit, conceited, deceit ceiv=apperceive, conceive, deceive, perceive, receive, transceiver |
Or when E-I due to prefix or suffix. | atheist, caffeine, cuneiform, deice, protein, reinvent (see below for full list) |
The only full exceptions are seize and weird. | and variants like seizure and weirdo. |
And there are a few E-I words that are sometimes sounded like E and sometimes not. | either, geisha, keister, leisure, neither, sheik, teiid, weir |
The Improved I Before E Rule Handling all I-E and E-I words |
Here is the Complete Rule |
Examples that follow the rule |
Use I before E |
ie =believe, field, yield, priest, shield, thief |
Except when C is followed by L, P, T or V
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ceil=ceil, ceiling ceip=receipt, receiptor ceit=conceit, conceited, deceit ceiv=apperceive, conceive, deceive, perceive, receive, transceiver |
Or when sounded like "A" as in weight |
"A" lei, deign, neighbor, sleigh, their, vein "I" eidetic, feisty, gneiss, heist, height, meiosis, seismic, sleight, stein |
Or when a prefix or suffix implies E-I. |
reiterate, atheist, and more (see below) |
(Note that this means I before E after C the rest of the time!) |
cied=fancied |
The one I-E exception is: society (C followed by T but not E-I) (well, 3 if you count societal and societies) Of course this exception fools no one because "ie" is not a digraph in this case so the order is obvious. |
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The E-I exceptions are: albeit, neither, counterfeit, either, foreign, geisha, forfeit, heifer, herein, keister, leisure, peignoir, reveille, seize, sheik, sovereign, surfeit, therein, weir, weird, wherein [and variants like foreigner, forfeiture, seizure, sheikdom, weirdo, weirder]. The rare ones are: ceinture, enceinte, mullein, teiid, and villein. Of these, albeit, herein, therein and wherein are not digraphs so fool no one. |
Here is a fairly complete list of E-I order due to prefix or suffix (up to 10 letters):
de-=deice, deionize, pre-=preignition, preinaugural, preindustrial, preinsert, preinstruct, re-=reignite, reinvent, reincarnate, reincorporate, reincur, reinduce, reinforce, reinfuse, reinstall, reinstate, reinsure, reissue, reiterate -eine=caffeine, codeine, cysteine, -i=caducei, glutei, nuclei, pilei, -ia=buddleia, onomatopoeia, prosopopoeia, -ian=plebeian, -ic= apneic, choreic, diarrheic, seborrheic, -id=clupeid, nereid, tineid, tracheid, -iform=acneiform, cuneiform -ify=deify, reify, -in=acrolein, casein, fluorescein, lutein, olein, protein (note: usually pronounced -EEN contrary to the suffix), -ing=ageing, being, blueing, canoeing, cueing, dyeing, fleeing, glaceing, glueing, hoeing, peeing, queueing, seeing, shoeing, singeing, tingeing, tiptoeing, toeing, viseing, -ish=ogreish, -ism=ableism, absenteeism, ageism, atheism, deism, misoneism, pantheism, polytheism, theism, -ist=ageist, atheist, canoeist, deist, polytheist, theist, -ite=jadeite, -itis=osteitis, uveitis, -ity=deity, velleity |
Here is a fairly complete list of all the 233 "cie" words (and all of these are exceptions to the traditional "I before E except after C" rule) (also note that 4 appear in two categories ("cien" and "cies"): deficiencies, efficiencies, proficiencies and sufficiencies): |
1 | "cied" word |
fancied |
3 | "ciet" words |
society | |
societal | |
societies |
18 | "cier" words |
icier | |
dicier | |
lacier | |
racier | |
fancier | |
glacier | |
juicier | |
pricier | |
spicier | |
bouncier | |
chancier | |
fanciers | |
fleecier | |
glaciers | |
concierge | |
financier | |
concierges | |
financiers |
65 | "cien" words |
ancient | |
science | |
ancients | |
hacienda | |
incienso | |
nescient | |
sciences | |
scienter | |
anciently | |
deficient | |
efficient | |
haciendas | |
nescience | |
prescient | |
scientist | |
conscience | |
deficiency | |
efficiency | |
omniscient | |
prescience | |
proficient | |
scientific | |
scientists | |
sufficient | |
ancientness | |
calefacient | |
coefficient | |
consciences | |
efficiently | |
inefficient | |
omniscience | |
presciently | |
rubefacient | |
sufficiency | |
coefficients | |
deficiencies | |
efficiencies | |
inefficiency | |
insufficient | |
neuroscience | |
proficiently | |
putrefacient | |
rubefacients | |
sorbefacient | |
sufficiently | |
unscientific | |
abortifacient | |
calorifacient | |
conscientious | |
inefficiently | |
insufficiency | |
proficiencies | |
pseudoscience | |
sufficiencies | |
abortifacients | |
absorbefacient | |
conscienceless | |
insufficiently | |
scientifically | |
conscientiously | |
unconscientious | |
pseudoscientific | |
unscientifically | |
conscientiousness | |
unconscientiousness |
11 | "ciest" words |
iciest | |
diciest | |
laciest | |
raciest | |
fanciest | |
juiciest | |
priciest | |
spiciest | |
bounciest | |
chanciest | |
fleeciest |
139 | other "cies" words |
baccies | |
fancies | |
mercies | |
reccies | |
species | |
abbacies | |
agencies | |
curacies | |
idiocies | |
legacies | |
lunacies | |
papacies | |
piracies | |
policies | |
decencies | |
fallacies | |
infancies | |
potencies | |
prelacies | |
primacies | |
privacies | |
regencies | |
secrecies | |
tenancies | |
truancies | |
urgencies | |
vacancies | |
valencies | |
accuracies | |
adequacies | |
advocacies | |
currencies | |
delegacies | |
delicacies | |
exigencies | |
intimacies | |
lambencies | |
pharmacies | |
prophecies | |
subspecies | |
tangencies | |
tendencies | |
valiancies | |
aberrancies | |
apparencies | |
autocracies | |
baronetcies | |
candidacies | |
captaincies | |
coherencies | |
constancies | |
contumacies | |
covalencies | |
democracies | |
diplomacies | |
emergencies | |
frequencies | |
hesitancies | |
immediacies | |
indecencies | |
intricacies | |
jubilancies | |
militancies | |
monocracies | |
occupancies | |
poignancies | |
pregnancies | |
residencies | |
superficies | |
supremacies | |
theocracies | |
absorbencies | |
ascendancies | |
ascendencies | |
bankruptcies | |
brilliancies | |
chaplaincies | |
competencies | |
compliancies | |
conspiracies | |
deficiencies | |
degeneracies | |
dependencies | |
divergencies | |
efficiencies | |
expectancies | |
expediencies | |
inaccuracies | |
inadequacies | |
incumbencies | |
indelicacies | |
insistencies | |
insolvencies | |
insurgencies | |
interspecies | |
intraspecies | |
magistracies | |
permanencies | |
plutocracies | |
precedencies | |
presidencies | |
profligacies | |
redundancies | |
stringencies | |
turbulencies | |
viscountcies | |
accountancies | |
ambivalencies | |
aristocracies | |
astringencies | |
bueraucracies | |
chieftaincies | |
confederacies | |
conservancies | |
consistencies | |
consultancies | |
contingencies | |
convergencies | |
delinquencies | |
discrepancies | |
incoherencies | |
inconstancies | |
infrequencies | |
inhabitancies | |
irrelevancies | |
lieutenancies | |
meritocracies | |
paramountcies | |
persistencies | |
proficiencies | |
sufficiencies | |
technocracies | |
constituencies | |
independencies | |
precipitancies | |
preoccupancies | |
transparencies | |
inconsistencies | |
transcendencies |
Note that there are 1791 "ei" words and 6041 "ie" words. |
Can You Trust Any Rules You Learned in School? "I" Before "E" Except After "C" By Duncan McKenzie |
How I met my wife by Jack Winter Published 25 July 1994 - The New Yorker It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate. I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way. I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I'd have to make bones about it since I was travelling cognito. Beknownst to me, the hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so it would be skin off my nose if anything bad happened. And even though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn't be peccable. Only toward and heard-of behavior would do. Fortunately, the embarrassment that my maculate appearance might cause was evitable. There were two ways about it, but the chances that someone as flappable as I would be ept enough to become persona grata or a sung hero were slim. I was, after all, something to sneeze at, someone you could easily hold a candle to, someone who usually aroused bridled passion. So I decided not to risk it. But then, all at once, for some apparent reason, she looked in my direction and smiled in a way that I could make heads and tails of. I was plussed. It was concerting to see that she was communicado, and it nerved me that she was interested in a pareil like me, sight seen. Normally, I had a domitable spirit, but, being corrigible, I felt capacitated -- as if this were something I was great shakes at -- and forgot that I had succeeded in situations like this only a told number of times. So, after a terminable delay, I acted with mitigated gall and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong givings. Nevertheless, since this was all new hat to me and I had no time to prepare a promptu speech, I was petuous. Wanting to make only called-for remarks, I started talking about the hors d'oeuvres, trying to abuse her of the notion that I was sipid, and perhaps even bunk a few myths about myself. She responded well, and I was mayed that she considered me a savory character who was up to some good. She told me who she was. "What a perfect nomer," I said, advertently. The conversation become more and more choate, and we spoke at length to much avail. But I was defatigable, so I had to leave at a godly hour. I asked if she wanted to come with me. To my delight, she was committal. We left the party together and have been together ever since. I have given her my love, and she has requited it. |
A somewhat complete list of single-word English palindromes: excluding proper nouns like Otto or Nauruan aibohphobia (the fear of palindromes) aha ala ana bib bob boob bub caibohphobiac (someone afraid of palindromes (I don't buy this, the word should be "aibohphobiac")) civic dad deed deified detartrated dud eke ere eve ewe eye gag gig gog hah huh kayak kinnikinnik (alternate spelling for kinnikinnick) kook level maam madam mam minim mum naan nan Nauruan non noon nun pap peep pep pip poop pop pup racecar radar redder redivider refer rever reviver rotor rotator sees sexes sis solos tat teet tit tnt toot tot tut vav waw wow |
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