Rulebreakers for the c/k spellings.

A few words break the normal rules. Most of these words are fairly recent imports into English from other languages.

Some examples:

karaoke (Japanese)	karate (Japanese)	kayak (Innuit)	skate (Dutch)
kangaroo (Aborigine)	kookaburra (Aborigine)	skunk (Native American)	skull

Greek and French words

There are two more ways of spelling the /k/ sound:

1. Words which came from ancient Greek use ch, for example:

Christmas

echo

chemistry

You'll find more on these words in Unit 5.

2. Many French words use -que, for example:

antique

mosque

boutique

You'll find more on these words in unit 3.