The hidden "y" in French "-euille-" words
Spelling bee champions know that French didn't just lend English fancy words — it lent English a few sound tricks too. One of the sneakiest: whenever you see "-euille-" or "-eille-" tucked inside a word, French speakers hide a quick "y" glide right after the vowel. Miss it, and you'll say something that sounds close... but not quite right to a judge who knows the rule.
The rule
In French-derived words, the specific sequence "-euille-" or "-eille-" almost always represents a /j/ sound — the same sound that starts the English word "yes" — not the plain English "ill" you'd read in a word like "fill". So "feuilleton" isn't read letter-by-letter as "few-il-tonn"; the "euill" collapses into a single glide: "fuh-YUH-tone". This is narrower than "any vowel plus ill" — plenty of other French loanwords keep a plain /il/ sound instead ("ville," "mille," "tranquille"), so the glide is specific to this "-euille-"/"-eille-" pattern, not a blanket rule for every vowel-plus-ill spelling.
Hear the difference
Reading "euill" the plain English way — like the "ill" in "fill" — instead of collapsing it into the French glide.
Try it yourself
"Feuilletonist" — a writer of feuilletons — is built from the exact same root. Which pronunciation correctly applies the "-euille-" rule?