Esperanto · Chapter 24 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
The hx question: Esperanto's least-loved letter
A century of retreat from hxemio to kemio, the Akademio's 1974 k-doublets, the words where hx refuses to die (ehxo, cxehxo), and how to actually say the loch sound.
The short version
The letter that refuses to die
The hx sound (loch, Bach) has been retreating for a century: hxemio became kemio, arhxitekturo became arkitekturo, and the Akademio blessed the k-forms in 1974. But some words cannot escape - cxehxo (a Czech) cannot become cxeko (a cheque), and ehxo never had a challenger. Learn to say it once and it stops being scary.
La ehxo de lia vocxo restis en la halo.
When k replaced hx, and when it could not
The 1974 official word list quietly modernised a batch of hx words to k - kemio, arkitekturo, mekaniko. The rule of thumb: where a k-form exists and collides with nothing, usage has taken it; where it would collide (hxoro cannot become koro, the heart), the old letter soldiers on. Dictionaries print both; nobody will correct you either way.
kemio aux hxemio - ambaux estas gxustaj
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