Moss Spelling Dictionary

Does the name end -phus or -phis?

heard as rhytidiadelphis

spelled rhytidiadelphus

It ends -phus, from adelphos, so rhytidiadelphis should be rhytidiadelphus.

What the ear did

Latin masculine genus names end in -us, and the vowel is swallowed in speech. If you cannot hear which vowel it is, the safe bet in a Latin name of this shape is u.

Sound decision: an ending that says something else. Said rye-tid-ee-a-DEL-fus.

R-H-Y-T-I-D-I-A-D-E-L-P-H-U-S

The full entry for rhytidiadelphus covers the name itself.

Other spellings people try