Exactly, @Soubresaut. The word’s orthography (spelling) is like its face. Much as a person’s face suggests age, ethnicity, character, and other biographical information, it tells you a lot about the word. And if you can recognize its roots, its origins, its relatives, and so on, you can gain a much deeper understanding of it. Some letters might not be necessary to the pronunciation of a word (or they might be), but pronunciation is hardly the only thing we want to know when we read a word.