Consonants /t/ versus /ʒ/, 9 pairs
[lootluge.html]

The spelling of /t/ is <t> or <tt> in this set. The /ʒ/ sound is spelled <ge>, <su> or unusually <zu> in azure.

The contrast is between a voiceless stop and a voiced fricative, fairly close in the mouth. It is unlikely to be a problem.

The consonant /t/ can occur in any position in the syllable, but /ʒ/ only occurs finally or intervocalically, other than in foreign names or loan words such as gendarme. /ʒ/ is in any case a very rare phoneme, found in only 334 words in the source dictionary.


attar azure
bait beige
bruit Bruges 
brute Bruges
letter leisure 
  lettered leisured 
loot luge
root rouge
  rooting rouging

John Higgins, Shaftesbury, January 2010
updated Chiang Mai, 2025