pronunciation - Why is "sew" pronounced as "so"?


Why is sew (/səʊ/ or /sō/) pronounced similar to so rather than to few or sue?


Looking at its etymology,



Old English siwian "to stitch," earlier siowian, from Proto-Germanic *siwjanan (cf. Old Norse syja, Swedish sy, Old High German siuwan, Gothic siujan "to sew"), from PIE root *syu- "to bind, sew" (cf. Sanskrit sivyati "sews," sutram "thread, string;" Greek hymen "thin skin, membrane," hymnos "song;" Latin suere "to sew, sew together;" Old Church Slavonic sijo "to sew," sivu "seam;" Lettish siuviu, siuti "to sew," siuvikis "tailor;" Russian svec "tailor"). Related: Sewed; sewing. Sewing machine is attested from 1847.



siowian appears to be the only word which could have been pronounced with a /səʊ/. But the later spelling of siwian sounds unlikely to have been pronounced so.


Also, are there other similarly spelt words which have the same irregularity in pronunciation?




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