Why does the word "explanation" drop the "i" from "explain"?
In all 30 years of writing and reading English I never noticed this and now it confuses the heck out of me. There is already a world "explanate" which means "Spreading or extending outwardly in a flat form" so not sure why there cannot be a "explaination" for "explain".
Posted Nov 4, 2011, 2:29 PM UTC
13
According to dictionary.com:
So, you wouldn't necessarily expect there to be an "i" in "explanation," since it's actually "explain" that changed in that respect. As for why "explanation" wouldn't also get an "i," well, the vowel is different.
hopefully someone with more knowledge about English will give you a more detailed history.
I agree with this as the "why" in one sense, but there's a deeper why that's lurking behind the scenes, namely: English spelling is not logical. It's not tied in any special way to how a word is pronounced, it's tied mostly the vagaries of history and happenstance, and consequently any time someone wonders why something is spelled so peculiarly, it's almost inevitably because of this.