Leaf Spelling Dictionary

Does reticulate double the c?

stress-doubleA doubled consonant marks a short stressed vowel in English. Reticulate has one of those, but the word never took the doubling.

heard asreticculate
spelledreticulate
saidri-TIK-yuu-lut

No. One c.

Of all the doublings on this list this is the best reasoned one. The stress falls on TIK, the vowel in it is short, and a doubled consonant is precisely how English marks a short stressed vowel. The word simply did not take that treatment on its way out of Latin, where reticulum has one c.

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