sch

abbreviation

1. schedule

2. schilling

3. scholar

4. scholium

5. school

6. schoolhouse

7. schooner

* * *

sch

This sequence of letters corresponds in present or past English spelling to the various sounds or combinations of sounds (ʃ, tʃ, sk, s, stʃ).

In ME. it was one of several modes of expressing the sound (ʃ), represented in OE. by sc, and in mod.E. normally by sh. With this value it continued to be used in Sc. down to the beginning of the 17th c. In ME. sch was sometimes miswritten for ch, pronounced (tʃ). In this Dictionary the words occurring in early texts spelt with initial sch which are not entered with this spelling will ordinarily be found under sh or ch.

In modern spelling sch has the value (ʃ) only in a few alien words from German (e.g. schnapps), in schist (of Gr. origin, influenced in pronunciation by German) and its derivatives, and in the abnormal (British) pronunciation of schedule. Formerly sch was often used for (ʃ), after German and French example, in transliterations of Oriental words, as in schekinah, schah, haschisch; but in these sh is now almost universally used instead. In words derived from Yiddish in which initial (ʃ) precedes a consonant, there is much variation in written English between sch- and sh-; however (following the German usage) sch- seems to be the prevailing spelling, except before t, where German would use simple s-: here sh- is the usual form, as it is before vowels. For the two main types see schlemiel, schmo, schnook, etc., and shtik. Such words are extremely common in the U.S. but are rarely encountered in Great Britain.

In mod.E. (sk) is the normal pronunciation of sch in words of classical derivation, where it represents L. sch, Gr. σχ. (The only exceptions are schist etc. and schedule, mentioned above, and schism etc. for which see below.) Sch is also pronounced (sk) in Italian words, e.g. scherzo. In Du. words the native pronunciation of sch is (sx) initially and (s) finally; but in the few Du. words with initial sch that are used in English without change of spelling the English custom is to substitute (sk).

In ME. texts initial sch sometimes occurs where the alliteration or the etymology shows that it is to be pronounced (sk). This probably arose from the fact that many Teut. words existed in two dialectal forms, one from OE. with (ʃ), and the other from ON. with (sk), and as both forms were used by the West Midland and Northern alliterative poets, they were often confused by the scribes. The existence of etymological spellings like schole for scole (school n.¹), which occur sporadically from the 13th c., may have had some effect in suggesting the use of sch as a symbol for (sk).

The only words in which sch now represents (s) are schism and its derivatives, the pronunciation of the ME. form cisme (from OF. cisme) having survived although the spelling has been altered in accordance with the ultimate etymology. A similar explanation applies to the now obsolete pronunciation of schedule as (ˈsɛdjuːl).

The pronunciation of sch as (stʃ) occurs only medially in words like escheat, eschew, discharge, where the s and the ch belong to different syllables.