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Granted I don't have hard data on the "ph" fact, the source is pretty credible in my opinion. The fact appeared in an article written for the British Council, co-authored by Martha Peraki, a Linguistics PhD recipient from American University. Heuristically, the "rule" passes the eyeball test: philosophy, physical, photo, phrase, philanthropy, phobia, phage, phalange, phalanx, phallic, phase, pharmacy, phantom, phenomenon, phone, photons, photosynthesis, physician, physique, phytoplankton, so on and so forth The overwhelming majority of these words are greek transliterations https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-start-with-ph (in fact I am having a hard time finding even one word that isn't -- i think "phreak" is the only one I can find) |