View source for I before E except after C

{{Short description|Mnemonic rule of thumb for English spelling}}
{{IPA notice}}
"'''I before E, except after C'''<!--do not add the "neighbor or weigh" extension here; it is discussed further on in the article.-->" is a [[Biology:Mnemonic|mnemonic]] [[Rule of thumb|rule of thumb]] for English spelling. If one is unsure whether a word is spelled with the digraph  {{vr|ei}} or {{vr|ie}}, the rhyme suggests that the correct order is {{vr|ie}} unless the preceding letter is {{vr|c}}, in which case it may be {{vr|ei}}. 

The rhyme is very well known; Edward Carney calls it "this supreme, and for many people solitary, spelling rule".<ref name="carney678"/> However, the short form quoted above has many common exceptions; for example: 
* {{vr|ie}} after {{vr|c}}: ''spe'''cie'''s'', ''s'''cie'''nce'', ''suffi'''cie'''nt''<!--one example per sound represented by the 'ie' -->
* {{vr|ei}} not preceded by {{vr|c}}: ''s'''ei'''ze'', ''v'''ei'''n'', ''w'''ei'''rd'', ''h'''ei'''st'', ''th'''ei'''r'', ''f'''ei'''sty'', ''for'''ei'''gn'', ''prot'''ei'''n''<!--one example per sound represented by the 'ei' -->

The proportion of exceptions can be reduced by restricting application of the rule based on the sound represented by the spelling. Two common restrictions are:
* excluding cases where the spelling represents the "long a"<ref group="n" name="longv">The labels "long a" and "long e", discredited among educators, are used here as umbrella terms for multiple [[Social:Lexical set|lexical set]]s and [[Social:Diaphoneme|diaphoneme]]s.</ref> sound (the [[Social:Lexical set|lexical set]]s of FACE {{IPAc-en|eɪ}} and perhaps SQUARE {{IPAc-en|ɛər}}). This is commonly expressed by continuing the rhyme "'''or when sounding like A, as in neighbor or weigh'''"
* including only cases where the spelling represents the "long e"<ref group="n" name="longv"/> sound (the lexical sets of FLEECE {{IPAc-en|iː}} and perhaps NEAR {{IPAc-en|ɪər}} and happY {{IPAc-en|i}}).

Variant pronunciations of some words (such as ''h'''ei'''nous'' and ''n'''ei'''ther'') complicate application of sound-based restrictions, which do not eliminate all exceptions. Many authorities deprecate the rule as having too many exceptions to be worth learning.<ref name="wheat32"/><ref name="stamper2011"/><ref name="liberman2006"/><ref name="dfore2009"/>

== History of the spellings ==
The [[Social:Middle English|Middle English]] language evolved from [[Social:Old English|Old English]] after the Norman conquest, adding many [[Social:Loanword|loanword]]s from Norman French, whose sounds and spellings changed and were changed by the older English customs. In French loanwords, the digraph {{vr|ie}} generally represented the sound {{IPA|[eː]}}, while {{vr|ei}} represented {{IPA|[ɛː]}}; {{vr|ie}} was later extended to signify {{IPA|[eː]}} in non-French words. In the Great Vowel Shift, sounds {{IPA|[eː]}} and {{IPA|[ɛː]}} were raised to {{IPA|[iː]}} and {{IPA|[eː]}} respectively. Later, the ''meet''–''meat'' merger saw the vowel in many {{IPA|[eː]}} words change to {{IPA|[iː]}}, so that ''meat'' became a homonym of ''meet'', while ''conceive'' now rhymed with ''believe''.<ref name="Scragg1974">{{cite book|last=Scragg|first=D. G.|title=A History of English Spelling|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oeNRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA49|access-date=24 March 2016|year=1974|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=9780719005534|pages=49 (text and fn.1)}}</ref><ref name="UpwardDavidson127t8">Upward and Davidson 2011, pp.127–8</ref> Early Modern English spelling was not fixed; many words were spelled with {{vr|ie}} and {{vr|ei}} interchangeably, in printed works of the seventeenth century and private correspondence of educated people into the nineteenth century.

== History of the mnemonic ==
The mnemonic (in its short form) is found as early as 1866, as a footnote in ''Manual of English Spelling'',<ref>{{cite book
|title=Manual of English spelling
|first=James Stuart 
|last=Laurie
|publisher=Simpkin, Marshall & Co.
|year=1866
|page=59
|location=London
|oclc=266992241
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yL8DAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA59
|access-date=4 April 2013
}}
Laurie's book erroneously lists ''conscience'', ''seine'', ''seize'', and ''seizure'' under "ei" rather than under "exceptions".
</ref> edited by schools inspector James Stuart Laurie from the work of a Tavistock schoolmaster named Marshall.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGXQAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA15 |access-date=25 February 2011 | publisher=J. Whitaker |page=15 |journal=The Bookseller |date=31 January 1867 |title=Laurie's Manual of English Spelling |issue=109 }}</ref> [[Biography:Michael Quinion|Michael Quinion]] surmises the rhyme was already established before this date.<ref name="quinion"/> An 1834 manual states a similar rule in prose;<ref name="Tallant1834">{{cite book |last=Tallant |first=Anne |title=The practice book; containing lessons in dictating, with questions, intended to remove difficulties in English instruction, and to communicate interesting historical and natural facts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cJVEf_mvKgC&pg=PA68 |access-date=27 February 2011 |edition=2nd |year=1834 |publisher=J. Hatchard & Son |location=London |quote=As a little confusion is experienced by scholars, when spelling {{not a typo|dissyllable}} verbs ending in ''ie'', it is well to remember that when the diphthong is preceded by ''c'', it is invariably ''ei'',—ex: perceive, deceive, conceive, &c, and when preceded by any other consonant, ''ie'', ex:—believe, reprieve, retrieve, &c. |page=68, fn}}</ref> others in 1855 and 1862 use different rhymes.<ref name="Michôd1855">{{cite book|last=Michôd|first=John|title=Orthographic aids; or, Mnemonics for spelling and exercises in derivation|url=https://archive.org/details/orthographicaid00michgoog|access-date=25 February 2011|year=1855|publisher=Longman|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/orthographicaid00michgoog/page/n13 9]|chapter=Vowels: Rule 5|quote=<br/>The Diphthong '''ei''' when it sounds like long '''e''',<br/>''Most frequently follows'' the consonant '''c''';<br/>''Reverse'' it, and then if it still sound the same,<br/>It follows a consonant ''not'' '''c''' by name,<br/>Except in such words as—''counterfeit'', ''seizure'',<br/>''Plebeian'' and Proper Names such as Madeira.}}</ref><ref name="Mongan1862">{{cite book|last=Mongan |first=James Roscoe |title=The practical spelling book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OuwIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA13 |access-date=27 February 2011 |edition=2nd |year=1862 |publisher=Simpkin, Marshall & Co. |location=London|quote=Unless preceded by a ''c'', / The ''i'' is placed before the ''e''. |pages=13, fn }}</ref> Many textbooks from the 1870s on use the same rhyme as Laurie's book.<ref name="quinion"/>

The restriction to the "long e" sound is explicitly made in the 1855 and 1862 books, and applied to the "I before E except after C" rhyme in an 1871 manual.<ref name="Colquhoun1871">{{cite book|last=Colquhoun|first=John Stuart|title=A compendious grammar and philological hand-book of the English language|url=https://archive.org/details/acompendiousgra00colqgoog|access-date=27 November 2014|year=1871|publisher=Griffith & Farran|page=[https://archive.org/details/acompendiousgra00colqgoog/page/n27 15]|chapter=Rules for Spelling English Words}}</ref> Mark Wainwright's [[FAQ]] posting on the alt.usage.English newsgroup characterises this restricted version as British.<ref name="Wainwright1997">{{cite web|url=http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxibefor.html|title=I before E except after C|last=Wainwright|first=Mark|date=September 1997|access-date=25 February 2011|publisher=alt.english.usage|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514011758/http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxibefor.html|archive-date=14 May 2011}}</ref> The restriction may be implicit, or may be explicitly included as an extra line such as "when the sound is e" placed before<ref name="Wainwright1997"/> or after<ref name="pullum2009"/> the main part of the rhyme.

A longer form excluding the "long a" sound is found in Rule 37 of Ebenezer Cobham Brewer's 1880 ''Rules for English Spelling'', along with a list of the "chief exceptions":<ref name="Brewer1880">{{cite book|last=Brewer|first=Ebenezer Cobham|title=Rules for English spelling|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xXECAAAAQAAJ|access-date=24 February 2011|year=1880|page=48}}</ref> 
:The following rhymes contain the substance of the last three rules : —
::i before e,
::Except after c,
::Or when sounded as "a",
::As in ''neighbor'' and ''weigh''
::But ''seizure'' and ''seize'' do what they please.
::"Dr Brewer" is credited as the author by subsequent writers quoting this form of the rhyme,<ref name="Reed1884">{{cite book|last=Reed|first=Alonzo|title=Word lessons: A complete speller adapted for use in the higher primary, intermediate, and grammar grades |url=https://archive.org/stream/wordlessonsacom03reedgoog#page/n107/mode/1up |access-date=24 February 2011|year=1884|publisher=Clark & Maynard|pages=101–102: §§143–146}}</ref><ref name="Education1886">{{cite book |author=California State Board of Education |title=Speller|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JddEAAAAIAAJ|access-date=24 February 2011|year=1886|publisher=State Printing Office|page=127}}</ref><ref name="GillinghamStillman1970">{{cite book|last1=Gillingham|first1=Anna|last2=Stillman|first2=Bessie Whitmore|author-link1=Anna Gillingham|author-link2=Bessie Stillman|title=Remedial training for children with specific disability in reading, spelling, and penmanship|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY9LAAAAYAAJ|access-date=24 February 2011|year=1970|publisher=Educators Publishing Service|page=173}}</ref> which became common in American schools.<ref name="quinion" />
''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' discusses "i before e except after c". Henry Watson Fowler's original 1926 edition called the rule  "very useful", restricting it to words with the "long e" sound, stating further that "words in which that sound is not invariable, as ''either'', ''neither'', ''inveigle'', do not come under it", and calling ''seize'' "an important exception".<ref name="fowler26">{{cite book |last=Fowler |first=Henry Watson |title=A Dictionary of Modern English Usage |edition=1st |year=1926 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=556 |oclc=318492 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.165977/2015.165977.A-Dictionary-Of-Modern-English-Usage#page/n567 |chapter=Spelling points; §4: Miscellaneous}}</ref> The entry was retained in Ernest Gowers's 1965 revision.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fowler |first=Henry Watson |author-link=Henry Watson Fowler |others=Edited by Sir Ernest Gowers |title=Fowler's Modern English Usage |edition=2nd |year=1965 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Great Britain |oclc=318483 |chapter=Spelling points; §4: Miscellaneous |pages=577–578|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.93959/2015.93959.A-Dictionary-Of-Modern-English-Usageed2#page/n603/mode/1up}}</ref> [[Biography:Robert Burchfield|Robert Burchfield]] rewrote it for the 1996 edition, stating 'the rule can helpfully be extended "except when the word is pronounced with {{IPA|/eɪ/|}}"', and giving a longer list of exceptions, including words excluded from Fowler's interpretation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burchfield |first=Robert William |author-link=Robert Burchfield |title=The New Fowler's Modern English Usage |edition=3rd |year=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-869126-2 |oclc=36063311 |chapter=i before e except after c |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/newfowlersmodern00fowl }}</ref> Robert Allen's 2008 pocket edition states, "The traditional spelling rule ' ''i'' before ''e'' except after ''c'' ' should be extended to include the statement 'when the combination is pronounced '''-ee-''' '".<ref name="Allen2008">{{cite book|last=Allen|first=Robert|title=Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XvSAl4Ng8SYC&pg=PT348|access-date=24 March 2016|date=2008-06-26|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=9780199232581|page=348|chapter=i before e}}</ref> Jeremy Butterfield's 2015 edition suggests both "when ... pronounced ''-ee-''" and "except when ... pronounced ''-ay-''" as extensions to the rhyme, as well as listing various classes of exception.<ref>{{cite book |last=Butterfield |first=Jeremy |title=Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage |edition=4th |date= March 2015|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-966135-0 |pages=390–391 }}</ref>

In 1932 Leonard B. Wheat examined the rules and word lists found in various American [[Social:Elementary school|elementary school]] spelling books. He calculated that, of the 3,876 words listed, 128 had ''ei'' or ''ie'' in the spelling; of these, 83 conformed to I-before-E, 6 to except-after-C, and 12 to sounded-like-A. He found 14 words with ''i-e'' in separate syllables, and 2 with ''e-i'' in separate syllables. This left 11 "irregular" words: 3 with ''cie'' (''ancient, conscience, efficiency'') and 8 with ''ei'' (''either, foreign, foreigner, height, leisure, neither, seize, their''). Wheat concluded, "If it were not for the fact that the jingle of the rule makes it easy to remember (although not necessarily easy to apply), the writer would recommend that the rule be reduced to '<!--  -->''I'' usually comes before ''e'',' or that it be discarded entirely".<ref name="wheat32">{{cite journal|last=Wheat|first=Leonard B.|date=May 1932|title=Four Spelling Rules|journal=The Elementary School Journal|publisher=University of Chicago Press|volume=32|issue=9|pages=697–706|jstor=996052|doi=10.1086/456796|s2cid=144229809}}</ref>


==Modern views==
Sandra Wilde in 1990 claimed the sounded-like-E version of the rule was one of only two sound–letter correspondence rules worth teaching in elementary schools.{{#tag:ref|{{cite journal|last=Wilde|first=Sandra|year=1990|title=Spelling textbooks: A critical review|journal=Linguistics and Education|volume=2|issue=3|pages=259–280|issn=0898-5898|doi=10.1016/S0898-5898(05)80022-1}}cited in Mullock.<ref name="Mullock2012"/>|name="Wilde1990"}} The rule was covered by five of nine software programs for spelling education studied by Barbara Mullock in 2012.<ref name="Mullock2012">{{cite journal|last=Mullock|first=Barbara|year=2012|title=An Examination of Commercial Spelling Programs for Upper Primary Level students|journal=Australasian Journal of Special Education|volume=36|issue=2|pages=172–195|issn=1030-0112|doi=10.1017/jse.2012.14}}</ref>

Edward Carney's 1994 ''Survey of English Spelling'' describes the ["long-e" version of the] rule as "peculiar":<ref name="carney678">Carney 1994, §2.8.2 pp.67–68</ref>
{{quote|Its practical use is ... simply deciding between two correspondences for {{IPA|/iː/|}} that are a visual metathesis of each other. It is not a general graphotactic rule applicable to other phonemes. So, although ''seize'' and ''heinous'' (if you pronounce it with {{IPA|/iː/|}} rather than {{IPA|/eɪ/|}}) are exceptions, ''heifer'', ''leisure'' with {{IPA|/e/|}}≡⟨ei⟩ or ''rein'', ''vein'' with {{IPA|/eɪ/|}}≡⟨ei⟩ are not exceptions; ⟨ie⟩ is not a usual spelling of {{IPA|/e/|}} or {{IPA|/eɪ/|}}.}}
As to the usefulness of the rule, he says:<ref>Carney 1994, p.74</ref>
{{quote|Such rules are warnings against common pitfalls for the unwary. Nevertheless, selection among competing correspondences has never been, and could never be, covered by such aids to memory.}}
The [[Philosophy:Converse (logic)|converse]] of the "except after c" part is Carney's spelling-to-sound rule E.16: in the sequence ⟨cei⟩, the ⟨ei⟩ is pronounced {{IPA|/iː/|}}.<ref name="carney314">Carney 1994, p.314</ref> In Carney's test wordlist, all eight words with ⟨cei⟩ conform to this rule, which he thus describes as being a "marginal" rule with an "efficiency" of 100%.<ref name="carney314"/> Rarer words not in the wordlist may not conform; for example, in ''haecceity'', ''ceilidh'', and ''enceinte'' the ''ei''  represents {{IPAc-en|iː|.|ɪ}}, {{IPAc-en|eɪ}}, and {{IPAc-en|æ}} respectively.<ref>See ''Collins English Dictionary'' and ''Webster's New World College Dictionary'' (4th ed.) pronunciations for [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/haecceity haecceity], [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ceilidh ceilidh], [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/enceinte enceinte]</ref>

Mark Wainwright's FAQ posting interprets the rule as applying only to the FLEECE vowel, not the NEAR vowel; he regards it as useful if "a little common sense" is used for the exceptions.<ref name="Wainwright1997"/> The FAQ includes a 1996 response to Wainwright by an American, listing variations on the rule and their exceptions, contending that even the restricted version has too many exceptions, and concluding "Instead of trying to defend the 'rule' or 'guideline', "'i' before 'e' except after 'c'", why don't we all just agree that it is dumb and useless, and be content just to laugh at it?"<ref name="aeufaq2">{{cite web|first=Bob|last=Cunningham|url=http://alt-usage-english.org/I_before_E.html|title=Exceptions to the rule 'I before E except after C'|date=23 February 2002|work=FAQ|publisher=alt.usage.english|access-date=25 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223231759/http://alt-usage-english.org/I_before_E.html|archive-date=23 December 2010}}</ref>

Kory Stamper of Merriam-Webster has said the neighbor-and-weigh version is "chocked with tons of exceptions", listing several types.<ref name="stamper2011">{{cite web |first=Kory |last=Stamper |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0003-ibeforee.htm |format=[[Software:Adobe Flash|Adobe Flash]] |title=I before E |work=Ask the Editor |publisher=Merriam-Webster |access-date=25 February 2011}}</ref> On Language Log in 2006, Mark Liberman suggested that the alternative "i before e, no matter what" was more reliable than the basic rule.<ref name="liberman2006">{{cite web|url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003785.html|title=Mrs. Olsen gets a D|last=Liberman|first=Mark|date=18 November 2006|work=Language Log|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|access-date=25 February 2011}}</ref> On the same blog in 2009, Geoff Pullum wrote, 'The rule is always taught, by anyone who knows what they are doing, as "i before e except after c when the sound is 'ee'."'<ref name="pullum2009">{{cite web|url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1525 |title=I before E |last=Pullum|first=Geoff |date=22 June 2009|work=Language Log|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|access-date=25 February 2011}}</ref>

''Teaching English Spelling'' ({{wipe|Cambridge University Press}}, 2000) provides a system of sound–spelling correspondences aimed at correcting common spelling errors among native and ESL students. The chapter "The sound 'e' (/iː/)" has sections on spellings "ee", "ea", "-y" and "ie and ei", the last of which uses "I before E except after C" and lists five "common exceptions" ''(caffeine, codeine, protein, seize, weird)''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shemesh |first1=Ruth |last2=Waller |first2=Sheila |title=Teaching English Spelling: A Practical Guide |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521639712 |pages= 228–234 |language=en}}</ref>

The 2009 edition of ''Support for Spelling'', by the English Department for Education,<ref name="dfore2009">{{cite web|url=http://downloads.nationalstrategies.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/pdf/c9275388873dcd6c647ff6cf9d1a2841.pdf|title=Support for Spelling|date=February 2010|work=The National Strategies: Primary Framework: Literacy Framework|publisher=Department for Education|access-date=24 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110222031701/http%3A//downloads.nationalstrategies.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/pdf/c9275388873dcd6c647ff6cf9d1a2841.pdf|archive-date=22 February 2011}}</ref> suggests an "Extension activity" for Year Five (10-year-olds):
*Children investigate the rule '''i''' before '''e''' except after '''c'''. Does this always apply? What sound does '''ie''' make in these words?
In the Appendix, after a list of nine "useful spelling guidelines", there is a note:
*The '''i''' before '''e''' except after '''c''' rule is not worth teaching. It applies only to words in which the '''ie''' or '''ei''' stands for a clear /'''ee'''/ sound and unless this is known, words such as ''sufficient'', ''veil'' and ''their'' look like exceptions. There are so few words where the '''ei''' spelling for the /'''ee'''/ sound follows the letter '''c''' that it is easier to learn the specific words: ''receive'', ''conceive'', ''deceive'' (+ the related words ''receipt'', ''conceit'', ''deceit''), ''perceive'' and ''ceiling''.
There were widespread media reports of this recommendation, which generated some controversy.<ref name="quinion">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/ar-ibe1.htm|title=I before E except after C|last=Quinion|first=Michael|date=4 July 2009|work=World Wide Words|access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref><ref name="pullum2009"/>

The ''Oxford Dictionaries'' website of [[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]] states "The rule only applies when the sound represented is ‘ee’, though. It doesn't apply to words like ''science'' or ''efficient'', in which the ''–ie-'' combination does follow the letter ''c'' but isn't pronounced ‘ee’."<ref name="oxford142">{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/142|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131045819/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/142|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2013|title=i before e except after c|year=2010|work=Oxford Dictionaries Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=24 February 2011}}</ref>

David Crystal discusses the rule in his 2012 history of English spelling.<ref name="Crystal2012"/> He first restricts it to the {{IPAc-en|iː}} vowel, then accounts for several classes of exception. He states that, while the exceptions are fewer and rarer than the words that follow the rule, there are too many to learn by heart; the factors are "too great to reduce to a simple rule", but "a basic knowledge of grammar and [[Social:Etymology|word-history]]" can handle them.<ref name="Crystal2012">{{cite book|last=Crystal|first=David|title=Spell It Out: The singular story of English spelling|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/spellitoutcuriou0000crys/page/177 |access-date=31 May 2014|date=2012-09-06|publisher=Profile Books|isbn=978-1846685682|pages=177–186|chapter=Ch.24: Spelling 'rules'}}</ref>

Educationalist Greg Brooks says the long-e qualification "is hardly ever mentioned, perhaps because it is difficult to explain to children"; the except-after-C part "works very poorly"; and the mnemonic "should be consigned to oblivion".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Greg |title=Dictionary of the British English Spelling System |date=July 2017 |orig-year=2015 |publisher=Open Book |isbn=978-2-8218-7627-9 |chapter-url=https://books.openedition.org/obp/2188#tocfrom1n1 |access-date=16 October 2020 |language=en |chapter=6.1 '<nowiki><i></nowiki> before <e> except after <c>'}}</ref>

==Exceptions==
The following sections list exceptions to the basic form; many are not exceptions to the augmented forms.

Words that break both the "I before E" part and the "except after C" part of the rule include cheiromancies, cleidomancies, eigenfrequencies, obeisancies and oneiromancies, as well as [[Earth:Pleistocene|Pleistocene]] from the geologic time scale.

===cie===
Some large groups of words have ''cie'' in the spelling. Few common words have the ''cei'' spelling handled by the rule: verbs ending ''-ceive'' and their derivatives (''perceive'', ''deceit'', ''transceiver'', ''receipts'', etc.), and ''ceiling''. The BBC trivia show ''QI'' claimed there were 923 words spelled ''cie'', 21 times the number of words that conform to the rule's stated exception by being written with ''cei''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duqlZXiIZqA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/duqlZXiIZqA |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=I Before E Except After C|work=QI Series 8 Ep 14 Hocus Pocus Preview|publisher=[[Company:YouTube|YouTube]]|access-date=24 February 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref>  These figures were generated by a QI fan from a [[Engineering:Scrabble|Scrabble]] wordlist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qi.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=767810#768569|title=Series H, Episode 14: Hocus Pocus|date=21 December 2010|work=QI Talk Forum|access-date=24 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715133857/http://www.qi.com/talk/viewtopic.php?p=767810#768569|archive-date=15 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The statistic was repeated by UberFacts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/uberfacts/status/485804692292009985|title=Tweet 485804692292009985 |quote=There are 923 words in the English language that break the “I before E” rule. Only 44 words actually follow that rule.|last=UberFacts|date=6 July 2014|work=[[Company:Twitter|Twitter]]|access-date=9 November 2016}}</ref>

====With the "long e" vowel====
The vowel represented by ''ie'' in words spelled ''cie'' is rarely the "long e" vowel of FLEECE ({{IPA|/iː/|}}), so few words are exceptions to the version of the rule restricted to that sound. Among them are ''specie'', ''species''. 

For those with ''happy''-tensing accents, the final ''y'' in words ending ''-cy'' has the FLEECE vowel, and therefore so do [[Social:Inflection|inflected forms]] ending ''-cies'' or ''-cied'' (''fancied'', ''policies'', etc.).

If the vowel of NEAR ({{IPA|/ɪər/|}}) is considered as "long e", then words ending ''-cier'' may also be exceptions. Possible examples include: ''fancier'', if pronounced with two rather than three syllables; or ''financier'', if stressed on the final syllable or pronounced with a ''happy''-tensing accent.

====With other sounds====
These are exceptions to the basic and "long a" versions of the rhyme, but not to the "long e" version.

Types include:
* Adding suffix ''-er'' to root in ''-cy'', giving a two-syllable ending ''-cier''; For example, ''fancier'' (adjective "more fancy", or noun "one who fancies")
* Words of Latin origin with a root ending in ''c(i)'' followed by a suffix or inflexion starting in ''(i)e''; such as 
** ''fac'' or ''fic'' "do; make" (''efficient, stupefacient'', etc.) 
** ''soc'' "sharing; kin" (''society'')
** ''sci'' "know" (''science, prescient'', etc.)
*Others: ''ancient'', ''concierge'', ''glacier''

===ei not preceded by c===
Many words have ''ei'' not preceded by ''c''.  In the sections that follow, most derived forms are omitted; for example, as well as ''seize'', there exist ''disseize'' and ''seizure''. Words are grouped by the [[Social:Phoneme|phoneme]]s (sounds) corresponding to ''ei'' or ''ie'' in the spelling; each phoneme is represented phonetically as at Help:IPA/English and, where applicable, by the keyword in John C. Wells' [[Social:Lexical set|lexical set]]s.

An asterisk* after a word indicates the pronunciation implied is one of several found.  Some have an {{IPA|/iː/|}} variant more common in America than Britain (e.g. ''sheikh'', ''leisure'', ''either'' have {{IPA|/eɪ/|}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/|}}, {{IPA|/aɪ/|}} respectively).

====With the "long e" vowel{{anchor|Strictest exceptions}}====
Words where ''ei'', not preceded by ''c'', represents the vowel of FLEECE ({{IPA|/iː/|}}), are the only exceptions to the strictest British interpretation of the "long e" version of the rhyme. Less strict interpretations admit as exceptions those words where ''eir'', not preceded by ''c'', represents the vowel of NEAR ({{IPA|/ɪər/|}}).

Some categories of exception:
* Many proper names, often because they are adopted from other languages. Fowler says the rule "is useless with proper names";<ref name="fowler26"/> Carney says "As one might expect of any rule, there are likely to be even more exceptions in names, many of which are Scottish":<ref>Carney 1994, §3.3.2.2 p.161</ref>
** forenames and surnames ''Keith, Neil, Sheila, Stein'', etc.
** placenames ''Leith, Keighley'', ''Rheims'', ''Raleigh'', etc.
** ''Eid'' in the names of Muslim holidays (Eid ul-Fitr, [[Religion:Eid al-Adha|Eid al-Adha]], etc.)
** others like ''Cassiopeia''
*Chemical names ending in ''-ein'' or ''-eine'' (''caffeine, casein, codeine, phthalein, protein,'' etc.). Here ''-ein(e)'' was originally pronounced as two syllables {{IPA|/iː.ɪn/|}}
*Scottish English words  (''deil, deid, weill,'' etc.) Mark Wainwright writes "There are many exceptions in Scots, so speakers with a large Scots vocabulary may as well give up on this rule."<ref name="Wainwright1997"/>

Other exceptions:
;{{IPA|/iː/|}} FLEECE: ''either*, heinous*, inveigle*, keister, leisure*, monteith, neither*, obeisance*, seize, seizin, sheikh*, teiid'' 
;{{IPA|/ɪər/|}} NEAR: ''madeira, weir, weird''.  (This sound may also be spelled ''ier'', as in ''pierce''.)

====With the "long a" vowel====
There are many words where ''ei'', not preceded by ''c'', represents the vowel of FACE ({{IPA|/eɪ/|}}). There are a few where ''eir'', not preceded by ''c'', represents the vowel of SQUARE ({{IPA|/ɛər/|}}). These groups of words are exceptions only to the basic form of the rhyme; they are excluded from both of the common restricted forms.

;{{IPA|/eɪ/|}} FACE: 
* With ''eigh'' spelling: ''eight, freight, heigh-ho*, inveigh, neigh, neighbo(u)r, sleigh, weigh''
* Others: ''abseil, beige, capoeira,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/capoeira|title=Definition of capoeira|work=Collins English Dictionary|publisher=Collins|access-date=4 April 2013}}</ref> cleidoic, deign, dreidel, feign, feint, geisha, glei, greige, greisen,  heinous*, inveigle*, nonpareil*, obeisance*,  peignoir*, reign, rein, seiche, seidel, seine, sheikh*, skein, surveillance, veil, vein''.  (While Carney says this sound is never spelled ''ie'',<ref>Carney 1994, p.168</ref> the last vowel in ''lingerie''* is often the FACE vowel.).
;{{IPA|/ɛər/|}} SQUARE: ''heir, their''. (This sound is never spelled ''ier'')

==== With other sounds ====
These are exceptions to the basic and "long a" versions of the rhyme, but not to the "long e" version.
{{Dynamic list}}
;{{IPA|/aɪ/|}} PRICE: 
* German origin: ''einsteinium, gneiss, leitmotiv, Rottweiler, stein, zeitgeist''.  
* Others: ''eider, either*, feisty, heigh-ho*, height, heist, kaleidoscope, neither*, seismic, sleight'' 
:(This sound may also be spelled ''ie'', but only at the end of a [[Social:Morpheme|morpheme]] as in ''die, pies, cried''.<ref>Carney 1994, §3.3.2.1 pp.151–2</ref>)
;{{IPA|/ɪ/|}} or {{IPA|/ə/|}} (see weak-vowel merger): ''counterfeit, cuneiform*, foreign, forfeit, reveille*, sovereign, surfeit''
;{{IPA|/ɛ/|}} DRESS: ''heifer, leisure*, nonpareil*, peignoir*''.  (This sound is spelled ''ie'' in the word ''friend''.)
;{{IPA|/æ/|}} TRAP: ''reveille*''
;{{IPA|/ɜ/|}} NURSE: ''O'Beirne''
;''e'' and ''i'' in separate segments (and often separate syllables or [[Social:Morpheme|morpheme]]s): 
*[[Social:Prefix|Prefix]]es ''de-'' or ''re-'' before words starting with ''i'' (''deindustrialize, reignite,'' etc.)
*Inflection ''-ing'' of those verbs with roots ending in ''-e'' that do not drop the ''e'' (''being, seeing, swingeing,'' etc.)
*Others: ''albeit, atheism, cuneiform*, deify, deity, herein, nuclei, onomatopoeia''

==Popular culture==
The rhyme is mentioned in several films and TV episodes about spelling bees, including ''A Boy Named Charlie Brown'', ''The Simpsons'' episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can", The Pen Is Mightier Than the Pencil episode of ''The Odd Couple'', and an episode of ''Arthur''; and also in the musical  ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'', when Huckleberry Finn is being taught how to read. The rhyme was used as a climactic plot device in the 1990 ''TaleSpin'' episode "Vowel Play" when Kit corrects Baloo's spelling by reciting the second half ("or when sounding like A, as in neighbour or weigh") of the mnemonic.

''I Before E (Except After C): Old-School Ways To Remember Stuff'' was a miscellany released in the UK for the Christmas 2007 "stocking filler" market,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3669867/Mnemony-clever-ways-to-remember-stuff.html|title=Mnemony clever ways to remember stuff|date=12 December 2007|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=25 February 2011}}</ref> which sold well.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/ba-book-prize-lists-20.html|title=BA book prize lists 20|date=26 August 2008|work=The Bookseller|access-date=25 February 2011}}</ref>

"I Before E Except After C" is a song on Yazoo's 1982 album ''Upstairs at Eric's''. The Jackson 5's 1970 hit "ABC" has the lyric "I before E except after C". "I before E except after C" was a 1963 episode of the TV series ''East Side/West Side''.

''I Before E'' is the name of both a short-story collection by Sam Kieth and a music album by Carissa's Wierd, in each case alluding to the unusual spelling of the creator's name. Until the 1930s, Pierce City, Missouri was named "Peirce City", after Andrew Peirce. A 1982 attempt to revert to the original spelling was rejected by the United States Census Bureau.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LI9TAAAAIBAJ&dq=i-before-e&pg=6751%2C3162466|title=Bureau sticks with 'i' before 'e'|author=United Press International|date=1 September 1982|work=The Bulletin|page=15|access-date=28 February 2011|location=Bend, Oregon}}</ref>

Comedian Brian Regan employs the rule in a joke on his debut CD ''Live'' in the track ''Stupid in School,'' where he states it as "I before E, except after C, or when sounding like A, as in neighbor or weigh, and on weekends and holidays and all throughout May, and you'll never be right, no matter what you say!" <ref>Wikiquote:Brian Regan</ref>

==Footnote==
{{Reflist|group="n"}}

==References==

===Sources===
* {{cite book|last=Carney|first=Edward|title=A survey of English spelling|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sceZ5XcqSfIC |access-date=25 February 2011| year=1994 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-09270-8 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Upward|first1=Christopher|last2=Davidson|first2=George|title=The History of English Spelling|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNfebt79zdwC&pg=PT127|access-date=24 March 2016|date=2011-09-15|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781444342970}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|3}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:I Before E Except After C}}
[[Category:Rules of thumb]]

{{Sourceattribution|I before E except after C}}