Most people wonder why so many words in English are spelled strangely.
The cause is the way English evolved, taking words and phenomes from other cultures. It all started with Old English , mostly Germanic in construction, vocabulary, and sound. Then evolved Middle English . The influences that transformed Old English to Middle English were primarily the migration of Germanic tribes and a French ruling cast beginning in 1066 with William the Conqueror. You'll see in the example below that many words are familiarly spelled, but every letter was pronounced.