I Before E

We probably all remember the one well-known spelling rule in English: I before E except after C, or the longer version: I before E except after C or when sounded like A as in "neighbor" or "weigh." But we also know there are all kinds of exceptions. And there are ways people have tried to patch the rule up to make it work. I don't consider a rule useful unless it covers all cases, so I have come up with two corrected versions of the rule that both cover all cases, listing all exceptions as necessary. The first, the Simplest I Before E Rule, has only 2 full exceptions and 8 sometimes exceptions (but only works for words with an E sound). The second, the Improved I Before E Rule, handles all cases and gets away with only 22 exceptions. Just remember, a weird foreigner neither seizes leisure nor forfeits height, being either a sovereign sheik or counterfeit geisha.

The spirit of the rule is to apply only to digraphs, letter pairs (i.e. "ie" or "ei") which are pronounced as one sound, and also just to roots and not when roots join to prefixes or suffixes. The "ie" in "science" is not a digraph and also is used to join the root "scire" = "to know" to the suffix "-ence" = "a state or quality", so should not be held by the rule. The same root and suffix appears in "conscience" (which also uses the prefix "con" = "with") and so it is not fair to hold to the rule in this case either. Although it is pronounced as one syllable and not two, it is just as the unstressed vowel schwa ("ə"), so it should not be confused with a true digraph either.

The Simplest I Before E Rule,

Handling only E sounded words

Here is the Simple Rule (for E words only!)

Examples that follow the rule

Use I before E when sounded like E

ie=believe, field, yield, priest, shield, thief

Except after C

 

ceil=ceil, ceiling
ceip=receipt, receiptor
ceit=conceit, conceited, deceit
ceiv=apperceive, conceive, deceive, perceive, receive, transceiver
Or when E-I due to prefix or suffix. atheist, caffeine, cuneiform, deice, protein, reinvent (see below for full list)
The only full exceptions are seize and weird. and variants like seizure and weirdo.
And there are a few E-I words that are sometimes sounded like E and sometimes not. either, geisha, keister, leisure, neither, sheik, teiid, weir


The Improved I Before E Rule

Handling all I-E and E-I words

Here is the Complete Rule

Examples that follow the rule

Use I before E

ie=believe, field, yield, priest, shield, thief

Except when C is followed by L, P, T or V

 

ceil=ceil, ceiling
ceip=receipt, receiptor
ceit=conceit, conceited, deceit
ceiv=apperceive, conceive, deceive, perceive, receive, transceiver

Or when sounded like "A" as in weight
or "I" as in height

"A" lei, deign, neighbor, sleigh, their, vein
"I" eidetic, feisty, gneiss, heist, height, meiosis, seismic, sleight, stein

Or when a prefix or suffix implies E-I.

reiterate, atheist, and more (see below)


(Note that this means I before E after C the rest of the time!)

cied=fancied
cien=ancient, conscience, efficient
cier=fancier, icier
cies=policies, raciest, species


Exceptions:

The one I-E exception is: society (C followed by T but not E-I) (well, 3 if you count societal and societies) Of course this exception fools no one because "ie" is not a digraph in this case so the order is obvious.

The E-I exceptions are: albeit, neither, counterfeit, either, foreign, geisha, forfeit, heifer, herein, keister, leisure, peignoir, reveille, seize, sheik, sovereign, surfeit, therein, weir, weird, wherein [and variants like foreigner, forfeiture, seizure, sheikdom, weirdo, weirder]. The rare ones are: ceinture, enceinte, mullein, teiid, and villein. Of these, albeit, herein, therein and wherein are not digraphs so fool no one.


Here is a fairly complete list of E-I order due to prefix or suffix (up to 10 letters):

de-=deice, deionize, pre-=preignition, preinaugural, preindustrial, preinsert, preinstruct, re-=reignite, reinvent, reincarnate, reincorporate, reincur, reinduce, reinforce, reinfuse, reinstall, reinstate, reinsure, reissue, reiterate

-eine=caffeine, codeine, cysteine, -i=caducei, glutei, nuclei, pilei, -ia=buddleia, onomatopoeia, prosopopoeia, -ian=plebeian, -ic= apneic, choreic, diarrheic, seborrheic, -id=clupeid, nereid, tineid, tracheid, -iform=acneiform, cuneiform -ify=deify, reify, -in=acrolein, casein, fluorescein, lutein, olein, protein (note: usually pronounced -EEN contrary to the suffix), -ing=ageing, being, blueing, canoeing, cueing, dyeing, fleeing, glaceing, glueing, hoeing, peeing, queueing, seeing, shoeing, singeing, tingeing, tiptoeing, toeing, viseing, -ish=ogreish, -ism=ableism, absenteeism, ageism, atheism, deism, misoneism, pantheism, polytheism, theism, -ist=ageist, atheist, canoeist, deist, polytheist, theist, -ite=jadeite, -itis=osteitis, uveitis, -ity=deity, velleity

Here is a fairly complete list of all the 233 "cie" words (and all of these are exceptions to the traditional "I before E except after C" rule) (also note that 4 appear in two categories ("cien" and "cies"): deficiencies, efficiencies, proficiencies and sufficiencies):

1 "cied" word
fancied
3 "ciet" words
society
societal
societies
18 "cier" words
icier
dicier
lacier
racier
fancier
glacier
juicier
pricier
spicier
bouncier
chancier
fanciers
fleecier
glaciers
concierge
financier
concierges
financiers
65 "cien" words
ancient
science
ancients
hacienda
incienso
nescient
sciences
scienter
anciently
deficient
efficient
haciendas
nescience
prescient
scientist
conscience
deficiency
efficiency
omniscient
prescience
proficient
scientific
scientists
sufficient
ancientness
calefacient
coefficient
consciences
efficiently
inefficient
omniscience
presciently
rubefacient
sufficiency
coefficients
deficiencies
efficiencies
inefficiency
insufficient
neuroscience
proficiently
putrefacient
rubefacients
sorbefacient
sufficiently
unscientific
abortifacient
calorifacient
conscientious
inefficiently
insufficiency
proficiencies
pseudoscience
sufficiencies
abortifacients
absorbefacient
conscienceless
insufficiently
scientifically
conscientiously
unconscientious
pseudoscientific
unscientifically
conscientiousness
unconscientiousness
11 "ciest" words
iciest
diciest
laciest
raciest
fanciest
juiciest
priciest
spiciest
bounciest
chanciest
fleeciest
139 other "cies" words
baccies
fancies
mercies
reccies
species
abbacies
agencies
curacies
idiocies
legacies
lunacies
papacies
piracies
policies
decencies
fallacies
infancies
potencies
prelacies
primacies
privacies
regencies
secrecies
tenancies
truancies
urgencies
vacancies
valencies
accuracies
adequacies
advocacies
currencies
delegacies
delicacies
exigencies
intimacies
lambencies
pharmacies
prophecies
subspecies
tangencies
tendencies
valiancies
aberrancies
apparencies
autocracies
baronetcies
candidacies
captaincies
coherencies
constancies
contumacies
covalencies
democracies
diplomacies
emergencies
frequencies
hesitancies
immediacies
indecencies
intricacies
jubilancies
militancies
monocracies
occupancies
poignancies
pregnancies
residencies
superficies
supremacies
theocracies
absorbencies
ascendancies
ascendencies
bankruptcies
brilliancies
chaplaincies
competencies
compliancies
conspiracies
deficiencies
degeneracies
dependencies
divergencies
efficiencies
expectancies
expediencies
inaccuracies
inadequacies
incumbencies
indelicacies
insistencies
insolvencies
insurgencies
interspecies
intraspecies
magistracies
permanencies
plutocracies
precedencies
presidencies
profligacies
redundancies
stringencies
turbulencies
viscountcies
accountancies
ambivalencies
aristocracies
astringencies
bueraucracies
chieftaincies
confederacies
conservancies
consistencies
consultancies
contingencies
convergencies
delinquencies
discrepancies
incoherencies
inconstancies
infrequencies
inhabitancies
irrelevancies
lieutenancies
meritocracies
paramountcies
persistencies
proficiencies
sufficiencies
technocracies
constituencies
independencies
precipitancies
preoccupancies
transparencies
inconsistencies
transcendencies

Note that there are 1791 "ei" words and 6041 "ie" words.

This rule compiled by Steve Wagar, 12/1/01, based on words from the WordWeb dictionary.
Revised on 6/10/03 to include a complete list of all "cie" exceptions, at the suggestion of Mike from New Jersey.
Note that many proper names don't follow the rule, e.g. Leigh and Rothstein.



Can You Trust Any Rules You Learned in School?

"I" Before "E" Except After "C"

By Duncan McKenzie

It's a rule that is simple, concise and efficeint.
For all speceis of spelling it's more than sufficeint.
Against words wild and wierd, it's one law that shines bright
Blazing out like a beacon upon a great hieght,

It gives guidance impartial, sceintific and fair
In this language, this tongue to which we are all hier.
'Gainst the glaceirs of ignorance that icily frown,
This great precept gives warmth, like a thick iederdown.

Now, a few in soceity choose to deride,
To cast DOUBT on this anceint and venerable guide;
They unwittingly follow a foriegn agenda,
A plot hatched, I am sure, in some vile haceinda.

In our work and our liesure, our homes and our schools,
Let us follow our consceince, sieze proudly our rules!
Will I dilute my standards, make them vaguer and blither?
I say NO, I will not! I trust you will not iether.

and now for some other amusing wordplay...


How I met my wife

by Jack Winter

Published 25 July 1994 - The New Yorker

It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate.

I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way.

I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I'd have to make bones about it since I was travelling cognito. Beknownst to me, the hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so it would be skin off my nose if anything bad happened. And even though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn't be peccable. Only toward and heard-of behavior would do.

Fortunately, the embarrassment that my maculate appearance might cause was evitable. There were two ways about it, but the chances that someone as flappable as I would be ept enough to become persona grata or a sung hero were slim. I was, after all, something to sneeze at, someone you could easily hold a candle to, someone who usually aroused bridled passion.

So I decided not to risk it. But then, all at once, for some apparent reason, she looked in my direction and smiled in a way that I could make heads and tails of.

I was plussed. It was concerting to see that she was communicado, and it nerved me that she was interested in a pareil like me, sight seen. Normally, I had a domitable spirit, but, being corrigible, I felt capacitated -- as if this were something I was great shakes at -- and forgot that I had succeeded in situations like this only a told number of times. So, after a terminable delay, I acted with mitigated gall and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong givings.

Nevertheless, since this was all new hat to me and I had no time to prepare a promptu speech, I was petuous. Wanting to make only called-for remarks, I started talking about the hors d'oeuvres, trying to abuse her of the notion that I was sipid, and perhaps even bunk a few myths about myself.

She responded well, and I was mayed that she considered me a savory character who was up to some good. She told me who she was. "What a perfect nomer," I said, advertently. The conversation become more and more choate, and we spoke at length to much avail. But I was defatigable, so I had to leave at a godly hour. I asked if she wanted to come with me. To my delight, she was committal. We left the party together and have been together ever since. I have given her my love, and she has requited it.



A somewhat complete list of single-word English palindromes:
excluding proper nouns like Otto or Nauruan

aibohphobia (the fear of palindromes)
aha
ala
ana
bib
bob
boob
bub
caibohphobiac (someone afraid of palindromes (I don't buy this, the word should be "aibohphobiac"))
civic
dad
deed
deified
detartrated
dud
eke
ere
eve
ewe
eye
gag
gig
gog
hah
huh
kayak
kinnikinnik (alternate spelling for kinnikinnick)
kook
level
maam
madam
mam
minim
mum
naan
nan
Nauruan
non
noon
nun
pap
peep
pep
pip
poop
pop
pup
racecar
radar
redder
redivider
refer
rever
reviver
rotor
rotator
sees
sexes
sis
solos
tat
teet
tit
tnt
toot
tot
tut
vav
waw
wow

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