> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Why do the British pronounce “herb” with an /h/?
- URL: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/herb/
- Published: 2025-01-19T22:16:45.000Z
- Updated: 2025-07-06T23:20:40.000Z
- Description: Why don’t Americans pronounce herb with an /h/?
- Author: Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.
- Tags: Newsletter, etymology, spelling, writing, English, American English, British English, respelling

Why don’t Americans pronounce *herb* with an /h/?

It turns out that the American pronunciation is the original one! The word *herb* was borrowed from Old French *erbe* ‘grass, herb, animal feed’ around 1300, at which point neither English nor French pronounced (or spelled it) with an /h/.

*Prefer a video version of this post? Watch here!*

But during the Renaissance in the 1400s, this was one of the many words that scholars decided to respell to more closely match their classical Greek/Latin origins. So writers began spelling the word as ⟨herb⟩, to match the original Latin *herba* ‘young plant; grass, herb, weed’.

When a word is respelled to match its historical pronunciation (despite the fact that the word is no longer spelled that way), it's called an **etymological respelling**. When it happens on the basis of the historical Latin word, it's called **Latinization** specifically.

🌠

Sometimes words are respelled in ways that have no historical basis whatsoever. For example, the word **thumb* ends with a ⟨b⟩ not because it was once pronounced that way, but because of influence from words like **dumb*. So that ⟨b⟩ truly has no historical basis. Cases like these are called ****unetymological respellings** or ****unetymological letters**.

It wasn’t until the 1800s that many British speakers began pronouncing an /h/ at the beginning of the word to match its spelling, making this another interesting example where American English is actually more linguistically conservative than British English.

The Old English word that was used before English borrowed *herb* from French was *wort*.

## Sign up for the Linguistic Discovery newsletter!

A weekly newsletter showcasing the diversity of the world's languages. Topics include:  
  
⚙️ how language works and changes  
🌍 surveys of the diverse ways that languages do things  
🗣️ language profiles  
ℹ️ explainers of terms and concepts in linguistics  
⭐ reviews of books and other media.  
🆕 a weekly digest of the latest news & research in linguistics  
  
Some posts are for paid subscribers only, but most are free.

Subscribe 

Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. 

**You can also subscribe on* [**Patreon*](https://www.patreon.com/linguisticdiscovery?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) *or* [**Substack*](https://linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/) *if you prefer to use those platforms instead. You’ll get all the same content and extras.*

## 📚 Recommended Reading

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6-c3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48b75e96-3bff-4c5c-a251-eecb561c8167_297x466.png)

[Amazon](https://amzn.to/4krA7qf?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oFMa!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9f3c602b-6268-4afd-a966-7c7751d21b1e_304x466.png)

[Amazon](https://amzn.to/4eupBKB?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

## 📑 Bibliography

- [Etymonline: ](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=herb&ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)[*herb*](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=herb&ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)
- [Wiktionary: ](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/herb?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)[*herb*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/herb?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)

💡

The Amazon links on this site are affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission from Amazon for purchases made through them (at no extra cost to you).  
  
If you’d like to support Linguistic Discovery, purchasing through these links is a great way to do so! I greatly appreciate your support!  
  
[Check out my entire Amazon storefront here.](https://www.amazon.com/shop/linguisticdiscovery?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)