ci-
Since c before i (as before e) was palatalized in OE, and in due course written ch- in ME., it follows that all OE. words in ci-, that have left representatives, now appear in the foregoing section of ch-, (e.g. chicken, chide, child, chill, chin, chirm). As a consequence ci- now contains only non-Teutonic words which have entered the language during the Middle English or the modern period, chiefly from Latin directly or through French. (The sole exception is the word cinder, as now spelt, for OE. and ME. sinder; which also owes its current spelling and inclusion among the ci- words to erroneous identification with French cendre, Latin cinerem.) The words in cy- are also non-Teutonic, being mostly modern and of Greek origin. In these combinations c has normally the sound of s; in the remaining combinations, cl-, co-, cr-, cu-, c has, as in ca-, its original phonetic value of (k), and comprises original English, as well as later words from all sources.