The silent L: walk, half, calm, could and salmon
English has dozens of words with a silent L, and they look alike. Their histories are opposite.
Most of them lost a real sound. In Old and Middle English, walk, half, folk and should all pronounced their L. Over the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, speakers dropped it in particular positions: before K (walk, talk, folk, yolk), before F (half, calf), before M (calm, palm, psalm), and in the little unstressed words should and would. The spelling was already fixed, so it kept the L.
Two of them never had an L to lose. Could was coude; it got its L in the 1500s by analogy with should and would. Salmon was samoun; writers added the L from Latin salmo.
walk
Walk comes from Old English wealcan, and the L was once pronounced. Speech dropped it in the early modern period, along with the L of talk and chalk.
- Then · Old English
- wealcan
- Say it
- WAWK
half
Half comes from Old English healf, with a pronounced L. Speakers later dropped the L before F, as in calf — the spelling kept the old sound.
- Then · Old English
- healf
- Say it
- HAF
calm
Calm traditionally has a silent L, like palm and psalm. But many Americans say the L — a spelling pronunciation. Here is the history, and which to use.
- Then · Middle English
- calme
- Say it
- KAHM
folk
Folk is Old English folc, and the L was once pronounced. Like yolk, walk and talk, it lost its L before K — the spelling kept the old sound.
- Then · Old English
- folc
- Say it
- FOHK
should
Should comes from Old English sceolde, and its L was really pronounced. It wore away because the word is so often unstressed — just like would.
- Then · Old English
- sċolde
- Say it
- SHUD, rhymes with good
could
Could never had an L. It was coude in Middle English; the L was copied in the 1500s from would and should, whose L really was once pronounced.
- Then · Old English
- cūþe
- Say it
- KUD, rhymes with good
salmon
Salmon came from French as samoun, without an L. Writers added the L from Latin salmo to make it look classical. English never pronounced it.
- Then · Middle English
- samoun
- Say it
- SAM-un
Where the L comes back
Spelling can push a sound back into a word. Many Americans now pronounce the L in calm and palm, and dictionaries accept both. The same thing happened earlier to falcon and fault, which today have a pronounced L. But in walk, talk, half, folk, should, could and salmon, an audible L still sounds non-native.
A quick check
Silent: walk, talk, chalk, half, calf, folk, yolk, should, would, could, salmon. Either way: calm, palm. Pronounced: film, milk, help, gold, salt.
Questions people ask
+Why is the L silent in walk and talk?
The L was pronounced in Old and Middle English, then dropped in most accents before K. The spelling kept it.
+Why do could, should and would have a silent L?
Should and would had a real L that wore away in these often-unstressed words. Could never had one: the L was added in the 1500s to match the other two.
+Should I pronounce the L in calm and palm?
Both pronunciations are accepted in American English. The L-less /kɑm/, /pɑm/ is traditional; many Americans say the L.
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