two letters, one vowel
cheelanthes
The vowel is written ei, not ee.
two letters, one vowel
Greek cheilos had a diphthong there, and Latin transliterated it as ei. English then read the pair as a long i, which is why the first syllable comes out as ky. Writing it ee records the sound of a different pronunciation, the one that says chee-LAN-theez, and a good many gardeners do say it that way. The spelling stays ei for both of them.
The class
One vowel sound that English can write several different ways.
Same name
Other spellings recorded for cheilanthes
The name