There are no set rules for โghโ pronunciation.
ย
The reason for the large variety of different sounds lies in the history of England and the English language. The โghโย spelling originate from Anglo-Saxon times when words ending in โhโ were pronounced with a harder sound, as seen with the Scottish pronunciation of โLoch.โ
However, the French invaded England in the 13th century, which had a huge impact on the English language and its spelling. To better represent the โthickerโ h sound, the spelling of many h words was changed to โghโ.
ย
Nowadays, there are 7 main sounds for the ough letter grouping.
Here they are with examples
ย
ew โ as in โtwoโ
- through, throughout,
ย
off โ as in โoffโ
- coughtrough
ย
uff โ as in โstuffโ
- enough, rough, tough
ย
oh โ as in โnoโ ย
- dough, though, although
ย
ow โ as in โnowโ
- bough, drought
ย
u โ as only the โuโ in โstuff.โ
- borough, thurough
ย
ore โ as in โstoreโ
- bought, brought, sought, thought
Thorough is spelled incorrectly