rathe
PronouncedRAYTH
adjAppearing or growing early in the season.
nounA surname from German.
Syllables
1 syllable
Letters
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: Letter R
Sound“r”·/r/
The letter R makes the /r/ sound, like in 'run', 'red', and 'rope'. The tongue curls back slightly.
R is a voiced approximant. The tongue curls back or bunches up without touching the roof of the mouth. When R follows a vowel it changes that vowel's sound (r-controlled vowels).
Tip
R is for run — /r/ with a curl of the tongue!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Open Syllable A (Long A)
Sound“ay”·/eɪ/
When A is the last letter of a syllable, the syllable is open and the A says its name “ay” — like in 'ba-by' and 'pa-per'.
This is the open-syllable pattern: a syllable that ends in a vowel leaves that vowel 'open', so it says its long name. Here, a lone A at the end of a syllable says “ay” (ba-by, a-pron, lady). The long A sound is also spelled other ways, each its own rule — silent E (cake), or vowel teams (ai in rain, ay in play) — but those are not open syllables.
Tip
Long A says its name — A!
Examples
Phonics Rule: TH Digraph (Voiced)
Sound“th”·/ð/
TH can make a buzzy sound “th”, like in 'this' and 'the'. You can feel your throat vibrate!
The voiced TH “th” is the vibrating version. Put your hand on your throat — you can feel it buzz. This sound appears in very common words like 'the', 'this', 'that', 'they'.
Tip
Voiced TH buzzes — this, that, the!
Examples
When the letter E appears in a closed syllable, it usually makes the short E sound “eh”. This is often confused with short I by new readers.
Tip
E says “eh” like an egg on your head.
Examples
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