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I was reading this question and it reminded me of a word (I've forgotten now) which was the opposite of that question i.e. a word in which the letter V is pronounced /f/. I racked my brain for about an hour but to no avail. I can't come up with it and there are thousands of words that have V, so Googling didn't help either.

As far as I remember, the V in this word is in an unstressed syllable (it also has a variant pronunciation with /v/).

Does anyone know the word I'm talking about?

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  • Have, here in the midwestern U.S., is very frequently pronounced haff. It is very often combined with the word to and the pair of words are then pronounced hafta.
    – EllieK
    Sep 8, 2020 at 20:20

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Leitmotiv (sometimes spelt leitmotif) is pronounced /f/. Other German borrowings such as Vaterland (nearly always) and verboten often have /f/.

Mazel tov is sometimes pronounced with /f/, but not always.

Kalashnikov (from Russian) is usually pronounced with /f/.

Have to is often /hæftu:/.

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  • And sometimes Volkswagen too but I think the [v] version is more popular.
    – Eddie Kal
    Sep 8, 2020 at 20:01
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    Ah.. verklempt is what I was thinking of. I've just remembered it.
    – Void
    Sep 9, 2020 at 20:29

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