The -cial and -tial endings

Both are /ʃəl/ — special, partial, official. Another place where ci and ti spell /ʃ/.

Word endings

-cial / -tial SUFFIX_CIAL_01

Strong rule · High reliability · Occasional · Advanced · Reading and spelling

• /ʃəl/ -cial / -tial: special, partial, official

Where Wiggler teaches it: Skill 13: Suffixes

Child explanation

Special and partial both end with /shul/. Two spellings, one sound.

The rule

The endings -cial and -tial are both pronounced /ʃəl/, read as one chunk.

What is really going on

The same palatalisation that produces -tion and -sion. -cial follows a vowel, -tial follows a consonant, which is a reliable spelling generalisation but makes no difference to a reader.

Position in the word

• End of a word — Always word-final. For example: special, partial, official.

Examples

Easy examples

special, partial, social, official

More examples

crucial, racial, financial, initial, essential, potential, confidential

Teacher note

Group with -tion, -sion and -ture as the family of endings where ti, ci and si all spell /ʃ/. Four chunks learned together cover an enormous amount of academic vocabulary.

Learn these first

• The -tion ending — -tion — One chunk, one sound: /ʃən/. Read it whole and four-syllable words become manageable.
• Soft C before E, I and Y — ce / ci / cy — C is /s/ before e, i and y. One of the clearest context rules in English — and it has real exceptions, so it should not be taught as absolute.

Related rules

• The -tion ending — -tion — One chunk, one sound: /ʃən/. Read it whole and four-syllable words become manageable.
• The -sion and -cian endings — -sion / -cian — -cian is /ʃən/ like -tion. -sion is /ʃən/ after a consonant and /ʒən/ after a vowel — mission versus vision.
• Soft C before E, I and Y — ce / ci / cy — C is /s/ before e, i and y. One of the clearest context rules in English — and it has real exceptions, so it should not be taught as absolute.
• Latin spelling patterns — -tion / -sion / prefixes / silent scholarly letters — The -tion and -sion endings, the common prefixes, and the letters Renaissance scholars inserted into debt and doubt to show a Latin root.

• Previous in Word endings: The -ous, -ious and -eous endings — -ous / -ious / -eous — All reduce to /əs/ — famous, serious, gorgeous. The ou is schwa, which is why it looks nothing like the ou of cloud.
• Next in Word endings: The -le, -el, -al and -il endings — -le / -el / -al / -il — Four spellings, one sound: /əl/. Reading them is easy; choosing between them when writing is not, and there is no rule that decides it.
• All reading rules

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