gue

Gue is a common letter sequence in the Spanish language, formed by the letters g-u-e. It is not a standalone word, but a digraph that appears in many Spanish words and proper names. The sequence is primarily used to spell the hard g sound before the vowels e and i, keeping the pronunciation as [ɡ] rather than the softer [x] that can occur before e or i in some cases.

In standard Spanish orthography, the u in gue is usually silent, so gue yields the hard g sound directly before e. When a writer wants the u to be pronounced, they can spell it with a diaeresis as güe (güe), which signals that the u should be pronounced, producing a sound closer to [ɡwe]. This distinction is visible in words such as güevo (egg) or güero (blond), where the diaeresis changes the pronunciation of the u.

Words containing gue appear in a wide range of everyday vocabularies. Examples include guerra (war), guerrero (warrior), and gueto (ghetto) in Spanish writing. The sequence also occurs at the start of many proper names and surnames, such as Guevara, exemplified by the historical figure Che Guevara, where the initial gue is pronounced with a hard g.

Beyond its use in Spanish, the letters gue may appear in loanwords, proper names, or transliterations in other languages, but its primary linguistic function is tied to orthography and pronunciation in Spanish. Overall, gue serves as a common example of how Spanish orthography uses additional vowels after g to preserve a hard consonant before certain vowels.