AAAmerican Accent US
Illustration: the history of the word answer
answsilenter
A sound people stopped saying

Why is there a silent W in answer?

Answer comes from Old English andswaru, "a sworn reply" — it contains the word swear. That is where its silent W comes from.

Then · Old English

andswaru

said like AND-swah-roo

Middle English onward↓

Now · American English

answer/ˈænsɚ/

said AN-ser

The story

Answer hides another word inside it: swear. Old English andswaru was built from and-, "against", and swaru, "an affirmation, an oath". Its original sense was probably legal: a sworn statement given in reply to a charge. To "answer" an accusation was to swear against it.

The W belongs to the swear half of the word, and in Old English it was pronounced: roughly AND-swah-roo. As the compound wore down in everyday speech, it lost pieces from the middle. The D of and- went, and so did the W, which sat in an unstressed syllable where sounds erode fastest.

Nothing happened to the spelling. That is why answer still looks like "an-swer" — and why it makes sense once you know the word is really "against-swear". The verb swear itself, stressed and on its own, kept its W.

How the word changed

  1. 1

    Old English (before 1100)

    andswaru

    and- (against) + swaru (oath): a sworn reply. W pronounced.

  2. 2

    Middle English (1100-1500)

    andswere, answere

    The D drops out of the compound.

  3. 3

    Early Modern English

    answer

    The unstressed W is lost in speech.

  4. 4

    Modern English

    answer

    AN-ser — the spelling still shows swear inside it.

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Questions people ask

+Why is there a W in answer?

Because the word contains swear. Old English andswaru meant "a sworn reply", and the W of the swear part was once pronounced.

+Are answer and swear related?

Yes. Answer comes from and- ("against") + swaru ("oath"), from the same root as swear.

More words with a story

swordSORD

Sword comes from Old English sweord, and the W was pronounced. German Schwert still has it. Here is how English lost the W but kept the spelling.

twoTOO

Two comes from Old English twā, said with a real W. The W is still heard in twelve, twenty, twin and between — the same root, a sound that survived.

wrongRAWNG

Wrong once meant "crooked, twisted" and was said with a real W. It is related to wring. Here is how the W went silent while the spelling stayed.

writeRITE

Write comes from Old English wrītan, once said with a real W. Writing first meant scratching runes into wood. Here is how the W went silent.

Part of

Why is there a silent W in answer?