magic e

noun

A silent e (in certain English words, such as cake and time) that appears to change the pronunciation of the preceding vowel.

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Meanings

nounmagic e (plural magic es or magic e's)

plural magic es · plural magic e's

  1. educationA silent e (in certain English words, such as cake and time) that appears to change the pronunciation of the preceding vowel.

    Write the following words in a column on a printing tablet or whiteboard: fat, mat, rat, cap, pan, hid, at, and us. Ask your child to wave his magic wand, add an e with his pencil, and see the new words he makes as he adds the magic e.

    2011, Susan M. Greve, Phonics for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 114
Cite this entry
APA

magic e. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/magic%20e

MLA

“magic e.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/magic%20e. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “magic e,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/magic%20e.

Source: magic e on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.