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class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Diacritics"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Diacritics</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Diacritics-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Diacritics subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Diacritics-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Loanwords" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Loanwords"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>Loanwords</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Loanwords-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Native_English_words" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Native_English_words"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>Native English words</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Native_English_words-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Punctuation_marks_within_words" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Punctuation_marks_within_words"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Punctuation marks within words</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Punctuation_marks_within_words-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Punctuation marks within words subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Punctuation_marks_within_words-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Apostrophe" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Apostrophe"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Apostrophe</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Apostrophe-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Hyphen" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Hyphen"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Hyphen</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Hyphen-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Frequencies" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Frequencies"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>Frequencies</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Frequencies-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Phonology" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Phonology"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">5</span> <span>Phonology</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Phonology-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-History" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#History"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6</span> <span>History</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-History-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle History subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-History-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Old_English" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Old_English"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.1</span> <span>Old English</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Old_English-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Modern_English" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Modern_English"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.2</span> <span>Modern English</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Modern_English-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Ligatures_in_recent_usage" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Ligatures_in_recent_usage"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">6.3</span> <span>Ligatures in recent usage</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Ligatures_in_recent_usage-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Proposed_reforms" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Proposed_reforms"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">7</span> <span>Proposed reforms</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Proposed_reforms-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">8</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Notes_and_references" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Notes_and_references"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9</span> <span>Notes and references</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Notes_and_references-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Notes and references subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Notes_and_references-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Notes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Notes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9.1</span> <span>Notes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Notes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9.2</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Further_reading" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Further_reading"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">9.3</span> <span>Further reading</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Further_reading-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="mw-content-container"> <main id="content" class="mw-body"> <header class="mw-body-header vector-page-titlebar"> <nav aria-label="Contents" class="vector-toc-landmark"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown vector-page-titlebar-toc vector-button-flush-left" > <input type="checkbox" id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-vector-page-titlebar-toc" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox " aria-label="Toggle the table of contents" > <label id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-label" for="vector-page-titlebar-toc-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only " aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-listBullet mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-listBullet"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">Toggle the table of contents</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div id="vector-page-titlebar-toc-unpinned-container" class="vector-unpinned-container"> </div> </div> </div> </nav> <h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">English alphabet</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 46 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-46" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">46 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D8%A8%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9_%D8%A5%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A9" title="أبجدية إنجليزية – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="أبجدية إنجليزية" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ast mw-list-item"><a href="https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabetu_ingl%C3%A9s" title="Alfabetu inglés – Asturian" lang="ast" hreflang="ast" data-title="Alfabetu inglés" data-language-autonym="Asturianu" data-language-local-name="Asturian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Asturianu</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-azb mw-list-item"><a href="https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B3%D8%AC%D9%87_%D8%A7%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%81%D8%A8%D8%A7" title="اینگیلیسجه الیفبا – South Azerbaijani" lang="azb" hreflang="azb" data-title="اینگیلیسجه الیفبا" data-language-autonym="تۆرکجه" data-language-local-name="South Azerbaijani" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>تۆرکجه</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bn mw-list-item"><a href="https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%BF_%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A3%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%BE" title="ইংরেজি বর্ণমালা – Bangla" lang="bn" hreflang="bn" data-title="ইংরেজি বর্ণমালা" data-language-autonym="বাংলা" data-language-local-name="Bangla" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>বাংলা</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be mw-list-item"><a href="https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%96_%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%96%D1%82" title="Англійскі алфавіт – Belarusian" lang="be" hreflang="be" data-title="Англійскі алфавіт" data-language-autonym="Беларуская" data-language-local-name="Belarusian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Беларуская</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-be-x-old mw-list-item"><a href="https://be-tarask.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%96_%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%8D%D1%82" title="Ангельскі альфабэт – Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)" lang="be-tarask" hreflang="be-tarask" data-title="Ангельскі альфабэт" data-language-autonym="Беларуская (тарашкевіца)" data-language-local-name="Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Беларуская (тарашкевіца)</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-bg mw-list-item"><a href="https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B1%D1%83%D0%BA%D0%B0" title="Английска азбука – Bulgarian" lang="bg" hreflang="bg" data-title="Английска азбука" data-language-autonym="Български" data-language-local-name="Bulgarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Български</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ca mw-list-item"><a href="https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabet_angl%C3%A8s" title="Alfabet anglès – Catalan" lang="ca" hreflang="ca" data-title="Alfabet anglès" data-language-autonym="Català" data-language-local-name="Catalan" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Català</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-cs mw-list-item"><a href="https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglick%C3%A1_abeceda" title="Anglická abeceda – Czech" lang="cs" hreflang="cs" data-title="Anglická abeceda" data-language-autonym="Čeština" data-language-local-name="Czech" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Čeština</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englisches_Alphabet" title="Englisches Alphabet – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Englisches Alphabet" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-et mw-list-item"><a href="https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inglise_t%C3%A4hestik" title="Inglise tähestik – Estonian" lang="et" hreflang="et" data-title="Inglise tähestik" data-language-autonym="Eesti" data-language-local-name="Estonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Eesti</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabeto_ingl%C3%A9s" title="Alfabeto inglés – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Alfabeto inglés" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angla_alfabeto" title="Angla alfabeto – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Angla alfabeto" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fa mw-list-item"><a href="https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%A8%D8%A7%DB%8C_%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B3%DB%8C" title="الفبای انگلیسی – Persian" lang="fa" hreflang="fa" data-title="الفبای انگلیسی" data-language-autonym="فارسی" data-language-local-name="Persian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>فارسی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fr mw-list-item"><a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_anglais" title="Alphabet anglais – French" lang="fr" hreflang="fr" data-title="Alphabet anglais" data-language-autonym="Français" data-language-local-name="French" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-gv mw-list-item"><a href="https://gv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbyrlhit_Baarleagh" title="Abbyrlhit Baarleagh – Manx" lang="gv" hreflang="gv" data-title="Abbyrlhit Baarleagh" data-language-autonym="Gaelg" data-language-local-name="Manx" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Gaelg</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%98%81%EC%96%B4_%EC%95%8C%ED%8C%8C%EB%B2%B3" title="영어 알파벳 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="영어 알파벳" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hy mw-list-item"><a href="https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%B1%D5%B6%D5%A3%D5%AC%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%A5%D5%B6%D5%AB_%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%A2%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%A2%D5%A5%D5%B6" title="Անգլերենի այբուբեն – Armenian" lang="hy" hreflang="hy" data-title="Անգլերենի այբուբեն" data-language-autonym="Հայերեն" data-language-local-name="Armenian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Հայերեն</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hi mw-list-item"><a href="https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%BC%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BE" title="अंग्रेज़ी वर्णमाला – Hindi" lang="hi" hreflang="hi" data-title="अंग्रेज़ी वर्णमाला" data-language-autonym="हिन्दी" data-language-local-name="Hindi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>हिन्दी</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-it mw-list-item"><a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabeto_inglese" title="Alfabeto inglese – Italian" lang="it" hreflang="it" data-title="Alfabeto inglese" data-language-autonym="Italiano" data-language-local-name="Italian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Italiano</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-kk mw-list-item"><a href="https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D2%93%D1%8B%D0%BB%D1%88%D1%8B%D0%BD_%D3%99%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%BF%D0%B1%D0%B8%D1%96" title="Ағылшын әліпбиі – Kazakh" lang="kk" hreflang="kk" data-title="Ағылшын әліпбиі" data-language-autonym="Қазақша" data-language-local-name="Kazakh" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Қазақша</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-lt mw-list-item"><a href="https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angl%C5%B3_kalbos_ab%C4%97c%C4%97l%C4%97" title="Anglų kalbos abėcėlė – Lithuanian" lang="lt" hreflang="lt" data-title="Anglų kalbos abėcėlė" data-language-autonym="Lietuvių" data-language-local-name="Lithuanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Lietuvių</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-hu mw-list-item"><a href="https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angol_%C3%A1b%C3%A9c%C3%A9" title="Angol ábécé – Hungarian" lang="hu" hreflang="hu" data-title="Angol ábécé" data-language-autonym="Magyar" data-language-local-name="Hungarian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Magyar</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-mk mw-list-item"><a href="https://mk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B1%D1%83%D0%BA%D0%B0" title="Англиска азбука – Macedonian" lang="mk" hreflang="mk" data-title="Англиска азбука" data-language-autonym="Македонски" data-language-local-name="Macedonian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Македонски</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ne mw-list-item"><a href="https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%99%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%80_%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A3%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BE" title="अङ्ग्रेजी वर्णमाला – Nepali" lang="ne" hreflang="ne" data-title="अङ्ग्रेजी वर्णमाला" data-language-autonym="नेपाली" data-language-local-name="Nepali" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>नेपाली</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA%9E%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%99%E3%83%83%E3%83%88" title="英語アルファベット – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="英語アルファベット" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uz mw-list-item"><a href="https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingliz_alifbosi" title="Ingliz alifbosi – Uzbek" lang="uz" hreflang="uz" data-title="Ingliz alifbosi" data-language-autonym="Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча" data-language-local-name="Uzbek" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pa mw-list-item"><a href="https://pa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A8%85%E0%A9%B0%E0%A8%97%E0%A8%B0%E0%A9%87%E0%A8%9C%E0%A8%BC%E0%A9%80_%E0%A8%B5%E0%A8%B0%E0%A8%A3%E0%A8%AE%E0%A8%BE%E0%A8%B2%E0%A8%BE" title="ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਵਰਣਮਾਲਾ – Punjabi" lang="pa" hreflang="pa" data-title="ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਵਰਣਮਾਲਾ" data-language-autonym="ਪੰਜਾਬੀ" data-language-local-name="Punjabi" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ਪੰਜਾਬੀ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabet_angielski" title="Alfabet angielski – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Alfabet angielski" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pt mw-list-item"><a href="https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabeto_ingl%C3%AAs" title="Alfabeto inglês – Portuguese" lang="pt" hreflang="pt" data-title="Alfabeto inglês" data-language-autonym="Português" data-language-local-name="Portuguese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Português</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ro mw-list-item"><a href="https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabetul_limbii_engleze" title="Alfabetul limbii engleze – Romanian" lang="ro" hreflang="ro" data-title="Alfabetul limbii engleze" data-language-autonym="Română" data-language-local-name="Romanian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Română</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ru mw-list-item"><a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82" title="Английский алфавит – Russian" lang="ru" hreflang="ru" data-title="Английский алфавит" data-language-autonym="Русский" data-language-local-name="Russian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-simple mw-list-item"><a href="https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_alphabet" title="English alphabet – Simple English" lang="en-simple" hreflang="en-simple" data-title="English alphabet" data-language-autonym="Simple English" data-language-local-name="Simple English" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Simple English</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ckb mw-list-item"><a href="https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A6%DB%95%D9%84%D9%81%D9%88%D8%A8%DB%8E%DB%8C_%D8%A6%DB%8C%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%B2%DB%8C" title="ئەلفوبێی ئینگلیزی – Central Kurdish" lang="ckb" hreflang="ckb" data-title="ئەلفوبێی ئینگلیزی" data-language-autonym="کوردی" data-language-local-name="Central Kurdish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>کوردی</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-fi mw-list-item"><a href="https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englannin_kielen_aakkoset" title="Englannin kielen aakkoset – Finnish" lang="fi" hreflang="fi" data-title="Englannin kielen aakkoset" data-language-autonym="Suomi" data-language-local-name="Finnish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Suomi</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ta mw-list-item"><a href="https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%86%E0%AE%99%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B2_%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%99%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A3%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81" title="ஆங்கில நெடுங்கணக்கு – Tamil" lang="ta" hreflang="ta" data-title="ஆங்கில நெடுங்கணக்கு" data-language-autonym="தமிழ்" data-language-local-name="Tamil" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>தமிழ்</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-te mw-list-item"><a href="https://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%86%E0%B0%82%E0%B0%97%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B2_%E0%B0%85%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%8D%E0%B0%B7%E0%B0%B0%E0%B0%AE%E0%B0%BE%E0%B0%B2" title="ఆంగ్ల అక్షరమాల – Telugu" lang="te" hreflang="te" data-title="ఆంగ్ల అక్షరమాల" data-language-autonym="తెలుగు" data-language-local-name="Telugu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>తెలుగు</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-th mw-list-item"><a href="https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A9%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A4%E0%B8%A9" title="ชุดตัวอักษรอังกฤษ – Thai" lang="th" hreflang="th" data-title="ชุดตัวอักษรอังกฤษ" data-language-autonym="ไทย" data-language-local-name="Thai" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>ไทย</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tg mw-list-item"><a href="https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%84%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%B8_%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D3%A3" title="Алифбои англисӣ – Tajik" lang="tg" hreflang="tg" data-title="Алифбои англисӣ" data-language-autonym="Тоҷикӣ" data-language-local-name="Tajik" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Тоҷикӣ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tr mw-list-item"><a href="https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0ngiliz_alfabesi" title="İngiliz alfabesi – Turkish" lang="tr" hreflang="tr" data-title="İngiliz alfabesi" data-language-autonym="Türkçe" data-language-local-name="Turkish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Türkçe</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-udm mw-list-item"><a href="https://udm.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8_%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82" title="Англи алфавит – Udmurt" lang="udm" hreflang="udm" data-title="Англи алфавит" data-language-autonym="Удмурт" data-language-local-name="Udmurt" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Удмурт</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-uk mw-list-item"><a href="https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D1%96%D0%B9%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BA%D0%B0" title="Англійська абетка – Ukrainian" lang="uk" hreflang="uk" data-title="Англійська абетка" data-language-autonym="Українська" data-language-local-name="Ukrainian" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Українська</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ur mw-list-item"><a href="https://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%B2%DB%8C_%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%81_%D8%AA%DB%81%D8%AC%DB%8C" title="انگریزی حروف تہجی – Urdu" lang="ur" hreflang="ur" data-title="انگریزی حروف تہجی" data-language-autonym="اردو" data-language-local-name="Urdu" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>اردو</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%E1%BA%A3ng_ch%E1%BB%AF_c%C3%A1i_ti%E1%BA%BFng_Anh" title="Bảng chữ cái tiếng Anh – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Bảng chữ cái tiếng Anh" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng 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searchaux" style="display:none">Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters</div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1257001546">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme)>div:not(.notheme)[style]{background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data:not(.notheme) div:not(.notheme){background:#1f1f23!important;color:#f8f9fa}}@media(min-width:640px){body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table{display:table!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>caption{display:table-caption!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table>tbody{display:table-row-group}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table tr{display:table-row!important}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table th,body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .infobox-table td{padding-left:inherit;padding-right:inherit}}</style><table class="infobox"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="padding:0.25em; background:lightblue;">English alphabet<br /><div style="font-weight:normal"></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image" style="padding-top:0.4em;padding-bottom:0.4em;"><span class="skin-invert" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Dax_sample.png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Dax_sample.png/200px-Dax_sample.png" decoding="async" width="200" height="95" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Dax_sample.png 1.5x" data-file-width="253" data-file-height="120" /></a></span><div class="infobox-caption" style="border-bottom:1px solid #aaa;">An English-language <a href="/wiki/Pangram" title="Pangram">pangram</a> written with the <a href="/wiki/FF_Dax" title="FF Dax">FF Dax</a> Regular typeface</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Script type</th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0; line-height:1.25em"> <a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">Alphabet</a> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Time period</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><abbr title="circa">c.</abbr><span style="white-space:nowrap;"> 16th century</span> – present</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Languages</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#ddd">Related scripts</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Parent systems</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="padding-top:0.15em;">(<a href="/wiki/Proto-writing" title="Proto-writing">Proto-writing</a>)<ul><li><a href="/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs" title="Egyptian hieroglyphs">Egyptian hieroglyphs</a><ul style="margin-left:0.8em;"><li><a href="/wiki/Proto-Sinaitic_script" title="Proto-Sinaitic script">Proto-Sinaitic script</a><ul style="margin-left:0.8em;"><li><a href="/wiki/Phoenician_alphabet" title="Phoenician alphabet">Phoenician alphabet</a><ul style="margin-left:0.8em;"><li><a href="/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a><ul style="margin-left:0.8em;"><li><a href="/wiki/Old_Italic_alphabet" class="mw-redirect" title="Old Italic alphabet">Old Italic alphabet</a><ul style="margin-left:0.8em;"><li><a href="/wiki/Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a><ul style="margin-left:0.8em;"><li>English alphabet</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Child systems</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><a href="/wiki/ISO_basic_Latin_alphabet" title="ISO basic Latin alphabet">ISO basic Latin alphabet</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Cherokee_syllabary" title="Cherokee syllabary">Cherokee syllabary</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Scots_language#Orthography" title="Scots language">Scots alphabet</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Osage_alphabet" class="mw-redirect" title="Osage alphabet">Osage alphabet</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Saanich_dialect#Writing_system" title="Saanich dialect">Saanich writing system</a></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#ddd">ISO 15924</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><a href="/wiki/ISO_15924" title="ISO 15924">ISO 15924</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r886049734">.mw-parser-output .monospaced{font-family:monospace,monospace}</style><span class="monospaced">Latn</span> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r886049734"><span class="monospaced">(215)</span>, Latin</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="background:#ddd"><a href="/wiki/Unicode" title="Unicode">Unicode</a></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Unicode alias</div></th><td class="infobox-data">Latin</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;"><a href="/wiki/Unicode_range" class="mw-redirect" title="Unicode range">Unicode range</a></div></th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf">U+0000–U+007E</a> Basic Latin</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-below noprint selfref" style="text-align:left; background:#eee;"><span style="font-size:90%"> This article contains <b><a href="/wiki/Phonetic_transcription" title="Phonetic transcription">phonetic transcriptions</a> in the <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> (IPA)</b>. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see <a href="/wiki/Help:IPA" title="Help:IPA">Help:IPA</a>. For the distinction between <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[ ]</span>, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ /</span> and ⟨<span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA" lang="und-Latn-fonipa"> </span>⟩, see <a href="/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet#Brackets_and_transcription_delimiters" title="International Phonetic Alphabet">IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters</a>.</span></td></tr></tbody></table> <p><a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a> is written with a <a href="/wiki/Latin-script_alphabet" title="Latin-script alphabet">Latin-script alphabet</a> consisting of 26 <a href="/wiki/Letter_(alphabet)" title="Letter (alphabet)">letters</a>, with each having both <a href="/wiki/Uppercase_and_lowercase" class="mw-redirect" title="Uppercase and lowercase">uppercase and lowercase</a> forms. The word <i>alphabet</i> is a <a href="/wiki/Compound_(linguistics)" title="Compound (linguistics)">compound</a> of <i><a href="/wiki/Alpha" title="Alpha">alpha</a></i> and <i><a href="/wiki/Beta" title="Beta">beta</a></i>, the names of the first two letters in the <a href="/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a>. <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> was first written down using the <a href="/wiki/Latin_alphabet" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet</a> during the 7th century. During the centuries that followed, various letters entered or fell out of use. By the 16th century, the present set of 26 letters had largely stabilised: </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><div class="hlist" style="margin-left: 1.6em;"> <ul><li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/A" title="A">A</a> a</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/B" title="B">B</a> b</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/C" title="C">C</a> c</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/D" title="D">D</a> d</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/E" title="E">E</a> e</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/F" title="F">F</a> f</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/G" title="G">G</a> g</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/H" title="H">H</a> h</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/I" title="I">I</a> i</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/J" title="J">J</a> j</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/K" title="K">K</a> k</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/L" title="L">L</a> l</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/M" title="M">M</a> m</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/N" title="N">N</a> n</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/O" title="O">O</a> o</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/P" title="P">P</a> p</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/Q" title="Q">Q</a> q</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/R" title="R">R</a> r</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/S" title="S">S</a> s</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/T" title="T">T</a> t</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/U" title="U">U</a> u</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/V" title="V">V</a> v</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/W" title="W">W</a> w</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/X" title="X">X</a> x</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/Y" title="Y">Y</a> y</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/Z" title="Z">Z</a> z</span></li></ul> </div> <p>There are 5 vowel letters and 19 consonant letters—as well as Y and W, which may function as either type. </p><p>Written English has a large number of <a href="/wiki/Digraph_(orthography)" title="Digraph (orthography)">digraphs</a>, such as <span class="nowrap">⟨ch⟩</span>, <span class="nowrap">⟨ea⟩</span>, <span class="nowrap">⟨oo⟩</span>, <span class="nowrap">⟨sh⟩</span>, and <span class="nowrap">⟨th⟩</span>. <a href="/wiki/Diacritic" title="Diacritic">Diacritics</a> are generally not used to write native English words, which is unusual among orthographies used to write the <a href="/wiki/Languages_of_Europe" title="Languages of Europe">languages of Europe</a>. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Letter_names">Letter names<span class="anchor" id="Alphabet_letter_names"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Letter names"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Chart_of_the_English_alphabet_from_1740_(from_James_Hoy,_Irish_Spelling-Book).png" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Chart_of_the_English_alphabet_from_1740_%28from_James_Hoy%2C_Irish_Spelling-Book%29.png/220px-Chart_of_the_English_alphabet_from_1740_%28from_James_Hoy%2C_Irish_Spelling-Book%29.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="510" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Chart_of_the_English_alphabet_from_1740_%28from_James_Hoy%2C_Irish_Spelling-Book%29.png/330px-Chart_of_the_English_alphabet_from_1740_%28from_James_Hoy%2C_Irish_Spelling-Book%29.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Chart_of_the_English_alphabet_from_1740_%28from_James_Hoy%2C_Irish_Spelling-Book%29.png/440px-Chart_of_the_English_alphabet_from_1740_%28from_James_Hoy%2C_Irish_Spelling-Book%29.png 2x" data-file-width="738" data-file-height="1710" /></a><figcaption>English alphabet from 1740, with some unusual letter names. Note the use of <a href="/wiki/Long_s" title="Long s">long s</a>.</figcaption></figure> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1235681985">.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1096940132">.mw-parser-output .listen .side-box-text{line-height:1.1em}.mw-parser-output .listen-plain{border:none;background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .listen-embedded{width:100%;margin:0;border-width:1px 0 0 0;background:transparent}.mw-parser-output .listen-header{padding:2px}.mw-parser-output .listen-embedded .listen-header{padding:2px 0}.mw-parser-output .listen-file-header{padding:4px 0}.mw-parser-output .listen .description{padding-top:2px}.mw-parser-output .listen .mw-tmh-player{max-width:100%}@media(max-width:719px){.mw-parser-output .listen{clear:both}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .listen:not(.listen-noimage){width:320px}.mw-parser-output .listen-left{overflow:visible;float:left}.mw-parser-output .listen-center{float:none;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}}</style><div class="side-box side-box-right listen noprint"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1126788409"> <div class="side-box-flex"> <div class="side-box-image"><figure class="mw-halign-center" typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/50px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="50" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/75px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Audio-input-microphone.svg/100px-Audio-input-microphone.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="48" data-file-height="48" /></span><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div> <div class="side-box-text plainlist"><div class="haudio"> <div class="listen-file-header"><a href="/wiki/File:Alphabet.oga" title="File:Alphabet.oga">English alphabet</a></div> <div><span typeof="mw:File"><span><audio id="mwe_player_0" controls="" preload="none" data-mw-tmh="" class="mw-file-element" width="232" style="width:232px;" data-durationhint="30" data-mwtitle="Alphabet.oga" data-mwprovider="wikimediacommons"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Alphabet.oga" type="audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"" data-width="0" data-height="0" /><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/39/Alphabet.oga/Alphabet.oga.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-transcodekey="mp3" data-width="0" data-height="0" /><track src="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?action=timedtext&title=File%3AAlphabet.oga&lang=en&trackformat=vtt&origin=%2A" kind="subtitles" type="text/vtt" srclang="en" label="English ‪(en)‬" data-dir="ltr" /></audio></span></span></div> <div class="description">A <a href="/wiki/Received_Pronunciation" title="Received Pronunciation">Received Pronunciation</a> <a href="/wiki/British_English" title="British English">British English</a> speaker reciting the English alphabet</div></div></div></div> <div class="side-box-abovebelow"><hr /><i class="selfreference">Problems playing this file? See <a href="/wiki/Help:Media" title="Help:Media">media help</a>.</i></div> </div> <p>The names of the letters are commonly spelled out in compound words and initialisms (e.g., <i>tee-shirt, deejay, emcee, okay,</i> etc.), derived forms (e.g., <i>exed out, effing, to eff and blind, aitchless</i>, etc.), and objects named after letters (e.g., <i><a href="/wiki/En_Dash" class="mw-redirect" title="En Dash">en</a></i> and <i><a href="/wiki/Em_dash" class="mw-redirect" title="Em dash">em</a></i> in printing, and <i><a href="/wiki/Wye_(rail)" title="Wye (rail)">wye</a></i> in railroading). The spellings listed below are from the <a href="/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary" title="Oxford English Dictionary">Oxford English Dictionary</a>. Plurals of consonant names are formed by adding <i>-s</i> (e.g., <i>bees</i>, <i>efs</i> or <i>effs</i>, <i>ems</i>) or <i>-es</i> in the cases of <i>aitches</i>, <i>esses</i>, <i>exes</i>. Plurals of vowel names also take <i>-es</i> (i.e., <i>aes</i>, <i>ees</i>, <i>ies</i>, <i>oes</i>, <i>ues</i>), but these are rare. For a letter as a letter, the letter itself is most commonly used, generally in capitalised form, in which case the plural just takes <i>-s</i> or <i>-'s</i> (e.g. <i>Cs</i> or <i>c's</i> for <i>cees</i>). </p> <table class="wikitable sortable"> <tbody><tr> <th rowspan="2">Letter</th> <th colspan="2">Name</th> <th colspan="4">Name pronunciation </th> <th rowspan="2"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1038841319">.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}</style><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="Frequency">Freq.</span> </th></tr> <tr> <th>Modern<br />English<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </th> <th>Latin </th> <th><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" class="mw-redirect" title="Help:IPA for English">Modern<br />English</a> </th> <th>Latin </th> <th>Old<br />French </th> <th>Middle<br />English </th></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/A" title="A">A</a></td> <td><i>a</i> </td> <td><i>ā</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/eɪ/: 'a' in 'face'">eɪ</span></span>/</a></span></span>, <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/æ/: 'a' in 'bad'">æ</span></span>/</a></span></span><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>a<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </td> <td>/aː/ </td> <td>/aː/ </td> <td>/aː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">8.17% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/B" title="B">B</a></td> <td><i>bee</i> </td> <td><i>bē</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'b' in 'buy'">b</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/beː/ </td> <td>/beː/ </td> <td>/beː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">1.49% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/C" title="C">C</a></td> <td><i>cee</i> </td> <td><i>cē</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'s' in 'sigh'">s</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/keː/ </td> <td>/tʃeː/ > /tseː/<br />> /seː/ </td> <td>/seː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">2.78% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/D" title="D">D</a></td> <td><i>dee</i> </td> <td><i>dē</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'d' in 'dye'">d</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/deː/ </td> <td>/deː/ </td> <td>/deː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">4.25% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/E" title="E">E</a></td> <td><i>e</i> </td> <td><i>ē</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/eː/ </td> <td>/eː/ </td> <td>/eː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">12.70% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/F" title="F">F</a></td> <td><i>ef</i>, <i>eff</i> </td> <td><i>ef</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="'f' in 'find'">f</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/ɛf/ </td> <td>/ɛf/ </td> <td>/ɛf/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">2.23% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/G" title="G">G</a></td> <td><i>gee</i> </td> <td><i>gē</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/dʒ/: 'j' in 'jam'">dʒ</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/ɡeː/ </td> <td>/dʒeː/ </td> <td>/dʒeː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">2.02% </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/H" title="H">H</a></td> <td><i>aitch</i> </td> <td rowspan="2"><i>hā</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/eɪ/: 'a' in 'face'">eɪ</span><span title="/tʃ/: 'ch' in 'China'">tʃ</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td rowspan="2">/haː/ > /ˈaha/<br />> /ˈakːa/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/ˈaːtʃə/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/aːtʃ/ </td> <td rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;">6.09% </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>haitch</i><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>b<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'h' in 'hi'">h</span><span title="/eɪ/: 'a' in 'face'">eɪ</span><span title="/tʃ/: 'ch' in 'China'">tʃ</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/I" title="I">I</a></td> <td><i>i</i> </td> <td><i>ī</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/aɪ/: 'i' in 'tide'">aɪ</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/iː/ </td> <td>/iː/ </td> <td>/iː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">6.97% </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/J" title="J">J</a></td> <td><i>jay</i> </td> <td rowspan="2">–</td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/dʒ/: 'j' in 'jam'">dʒ</span><span title="/eɪ/: 'a' in 'face'">eɪ</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td rowspan="2">– </td> <td rowspan="2">– </td> <td rowspan="2"><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>c<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </td> <td rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;">0.15% </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>jy</i><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>d<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/dʒ/: 'j' in 'jam'">dʒ</span><span title="/aɪ/: 'i' in 'tide'">aɪ</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/K" title="K">K</a></td> <td><i>kay</i> </td> <td><i>kā</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'k' in 'kind'">k</span><span title="/eɪ/: 'a' in 'face'">eɪ</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/kaː/ </td> <td>/kaː/ </td> <td>/kaː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">0.77% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/L" title="L">L</a></td> <td><i>el</i>, <i>ell</i><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>e<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </td> <td><i>el</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="'l' in 'lie'">l</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/ɛl/ </td> <td>/ɛl/ </td> <td>/ɛl/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">4.03% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/M" title="M">M</a></td> <td><i>em</i> </td> <td><i>em</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="'m' in 'my'">m</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/ɛm/ </td> <td>/ɛm/ </td> <td>/ɛm/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">2.41% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/N" title="N">N</a></td> <td><i>en</i> </td> <td><i>en</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="'n' in 'nigh'">n</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/ɛn/ </td> <td>/ɛn/ </td> <td>/ɛn/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">6.75% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/O" title="O">O</a></td> <td><i>o</i> </td> <td><i>ō</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/oʊ/: 'o' in 'code'">oʊ</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/oː/ </td> <td>/oː/ </td> <td>/oː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">7.51% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/P" title="P">P</a></td> <td><i>pee</i> </td> <td><i>pē</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'p' in 'pie'">p</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/peː/ </td> <td>/peː/ </td> <td>/peː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">1.93% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/Q" title="Q">Q</a></td> <td><i>cue</i>, <i>kew</i>,<br /><i>kue</i>, <i>que</i> </td> <td><i>qū</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'k' in 'kind'">k</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/uː/: 'oo' in 'goose'">uː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/kuː/ </td> <td>/kyː/ </td> <td>/kiw/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">0.10% </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/R" title="R">R</a></td> <td><i>ar</i> </td> <td rowspan="2"><i>er</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɑːr/: 'ar' in 'far'">ɑːr</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td rowspan="2">/ɛr/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/ɛr/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/ɛr/ > /ar/ </td> <td rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;">5.99% </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>or</i><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>f<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɔːr/: 'ar' in 'war'">ɔːr</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/S" title="S">S</a></td> <td><i>ess</i> </td> <td rowspan="2"><i>es</i></td> <td rowspan="2"><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="'s' in 'sigh'">s</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td rowspan="2">/ɛs/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/ɛs/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/ɛs/ </td> <td rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;">6.33% </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>es-</i><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>g<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/T" title="T">T</a></td> <td><i>tee</i> </td> <td><i>tē</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'t' in 'tie'">t</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/teː/ </td> <td>/teː/ </td> <td>/teː/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">9.06% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/U" title="U">U</a></td> <td><i>u</i> </td> <td><i>ū</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/uː/: 'oo' in 'goose'">uː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/uː/ </td> <td>/yː/ </td> <td>/iw/ </td> <td style="text-align:right;">2.76% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/V" title="V">V</a></td> <td><i>vee</i> </td> <td>–</td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'v' in 'vie'">v</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>– </td> <td>– </td> <td>– </td> <td style="text-align:right;">0.98% </td></tr> <tr> <td><a href="/wiki/W" title="W">W</a></td> <td><i>double-u</i> </td> <td>–</td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'d' in 'dye'">d</span><span title="/ʌ/: 'u' in 'cut'">ʌ</span><span title="'b' in 'buy'">b</span><span title="/əl/: 'le' in 'bottle'">əl</span><span title="/./: syllable break">.</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/uː/: 'oo' in 'goose'">uː</span></span>/</a></span></span><sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>h<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </td> <td>– </td> <td>– </td> <td>– </td> <td style="text-align:right;">2.36% </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/X" title="X">X</a></td> <td rowspan="2"><i>ex</i> </td> <td><i>ex</i></td> <td rowspan="2"><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="'k' in 'kind'">k</span><span title="'s' in 'sigh'">s</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/ɛks/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/iks/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/ɛks/ </td> <td rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;">0.15% </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>ix</i> </td> <td>/ɪks/ </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="3"><a href="/wiki/Y" title="Y">Y</a> </td> <td rowspan="3"><i>wy</i>, <i>wye</i> </td> <td rowspan="2"><i>hȳ</i> </td> <td rowspan="3"><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'w' in 'wind'">w</span><span title="/aɪ/: 'i' in 'tide'">aɪ</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td>/hyː/ </td> <td rowspan="2"><i>ui, gui</i> ? </td> <td rowspan="3">/wiː/ </td> <td rowspan="3" style="text-align:right;">1.97% </td></tr> <tr> <td>/iː/ </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>ī graeca</i> </td> <td>/iː ˈɡraɪka/ </td> <td>/iː ɡrɛːk/ </td></tr> <tr> <td rowspan="2"><a href="/wiki/Z" title="Z">Z</a></td> <td><i>zed</i><sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>i<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </td> <td rowspan="2"><i>zēta</i></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'z' in 'zoom'">z</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="'d' in 'dye'">d</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td> <td rowspan="2">/ˈzeːta/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/ˈzɛːdə/ </td> <td rowspan="2">/zɛd/ </td> <td rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;">0.07% </td></tr> <tr> <td><i>zee</i><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>j<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></td> <td><span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'z' in 'zoom'">z</span><span title="/iː/: 'ee' in 'fleece'">iː</span></span>/</a></span></span> </td></tr></tbody></table> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Etymology">Etymology</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Etymology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The names of the letters are for the most part direct descendants, via French, of the Latin (and Etruscan) names. (See <a href="/wiki/Latin_alphabet#Origins" title="Latin alphabet">Latin alphabet: Origins</a>.) </p><p>The regular phonological developments (in rough chronological order) are: </p> <ul><li>palatalization before front vowels of Latin <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/k/</span> successively to <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/tʃ/</span>, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ts/</span>, and finally to Middle French <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/s/</span>. Affects C.</li> <li>palatalization before front vowels of Latin <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɡ/</span> to Proto-Romance and Middle French <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/dʒ/</span>. Affects G.</li> <li>fronting of Latin <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/uː/</span> to Middle French <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/yː/</span>, becoming Middle English <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/iw/</span> and then Modern English <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/juː/</span>. Affects Q, U.</li> <li>the inconsistent lowering of Middle English <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ɛr/</span> to <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ar/</span>. Affects R.</li> <li>the <a href="/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift" title="Great Vowel Shift">Great Vowel Shift</a>, shifting all Middle English long vowels. Affects A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, K, O, P, T, and presumably Y.</li></ul> <p>The novel forms are <i>aitch</i>, a regular development of Medieval Latin <i>acca</i>; <i>jay</i>, a new letter presumably vocalised like neighboring <i>kay</i> to avoid confusion with established <i>gee</i> (the other name, <i>jy</i>, was taken from French); <i>vee</i>, a new letter named by analogy with the majority; <i>double-u</i>, a new letter, self-explanatory (the name of Latin V was <i>ū</i>); <i>wye</i>, of obscure origin but with an antecedent in Old French <i>wi</i>; <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/izzard" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:izzard">izzard</a>, from the Romance phrase <i>i zed</i> or <i>i zeto</i> "and Z" said when reciting the alphabet; and <i>zee</i>, an American levelling of <i>zed</i> by analogy with other consonants. </p><p>Some groups of letters, such as <i>pee</i> and <i>bee</i>, or <i>em</i> and <i>en</i>, are easily confused in speech, especially when heard over the telephone or a radio communications link. <a href="/wiki/Spelling_alphabet" title="Spelling alphabet">Spelling alphabets</a> such as the <a href="/wiki/ICAO_spelling_alphabet" class="mw-redirect" title="ICAO spelling alphabet">ICAO spelling alphabet</a>, used by <a href="/wiki/Aircraft" title="Aircraft">aircraft</a> pilots, police and others, are designed to eliminate this potential confusion by giving each letter a name that sounds quite different from any other. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Ampersand">Ampersand</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Ampersand"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Ampersand" title="Ampersand">ampersand</a> (&) has sometimes appeared at the end of the English alphabet, as in Byrhtferð's list of letters in 1011.<sup id="cite_ref-Evertype_12-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Evertype-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <i>&</i> was regarded as the 27th letter of the English alphabet, as taught to children in the US and elsewhere.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Vagueness" title="Wikipedia:Vagueness"><span title="The "US and elsewhere" is too vague considering how globally widespread English education is. (October 2024)">vague</span></a></i>]</sup> An example may be seen in M. B. Moore's 1863 book <i>The Dixie Primer, for the Little Folks</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Historically, the figure is a <a href="/wiki/Typographic_ligature" class="mw-redirect" title="Typographic ligature">ligature</a> for the letters <i>Et</i>. In English and many other languages, it is used to represent the word <i>and</i>, plus occasionally the Latin word <i>et</i>, as in the abbreviation <i>&c</i> (et cetera). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Archaic_letters">Archaic letters</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Archaic letters"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old</a> and <a href="/wiki/Middle_English" title="Middle English">Middle English</a> had a number of non-Latin letters that have since dropped out of use. Some of these either took the names of the equivalent <a href="/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_runes" title="Anglo-Saxon runes">runes</a>, since there were no Latin names to adopt, or were runes themselves (<a href="/wiki/Thorn_(letter)" title="Thorn (letter)">thorn</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wynn" title="Wynn">wyn</a>). </p> <ul><li>Æ æ <i><a href="/wiki/%C3%86" title="Æ">Ash</a></i> or <i>æsc</i> <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/æ/: 'a' in 'bad'">æ</span><span title="/ʃ/: 'sh' in 'shy'">ʃ</span></span>/</a></span></span>, used for the vowel <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/æ/: 'a' in 'bad'">æ</span></span>/</a></span></span>, which disappeared from the language and then reformed. Replaced by <a href="/wiki/Ae_(digraph)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ae (digraph)">ae</a><sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>k<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and <a href="/wiki/E" title="E">e</a> now.</li> <li>Ð ð <i><a href="/wiki/Eth" title="Eth">Edh</a></i>, <i>eð</i> or <i>eth</i> <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="/ð/: 'th' in 'this'">ð</span></span>/</a></span></span>, used for the consonants <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ð/: 'th' in 'this'">ð</span></span>/</a></span></span> and <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/θ/: 'th' in 'thigh'">θ</span></span>/</a></span></span> (which did not become phonemically distinct until after the letter had fallen out of use). Replaced by <a href="/wiki/Th_(digraph)" title="Th (digraph)">th</a> now.</li> <li>Þ þ <i><a href="/wiki/Thorn_(letter)" title="Thorn (letter)">Thorn</a></i> or <i>þorn</i> <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/θ/: 'th' in 'thigh'">θ</span><span title="/ɔːr/: 'ar' in 'war'">ɔːr</span><span title="'n' in 'nigh'">n</span></span>/</a></span></span>, used for the consonants <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ð/: 'th' in 'this'">ð</span></span>/</a></span></span> and <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/θ/: 'th' in 'thigh'">θ</span></span>/</a></span></span> (which did not become phonemically distinct until after the letter had fallen out of use). Replaced by <a href="/wiki/Th_(digraph)" title="Th (digraph)">th</a> now.</li> <li>Œ œ <i><a href="/wiki/%C5%92" title="Œ">Ethel</a></i>, <i>ēðel</i>, <i>œ̄þel</i>, etc. <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/ɛ/: 'e' in 'dress'">ɛ</span><span title="/ð/: 'th' in 'this'">ð</span><span title="/əl/: 'le' in 'bottle'">əl</span></span>/</a></span></span>, used for the vowel <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/<a href="/wiki/Open-mid_front_rounded_vowel" title="Open-mid front rounded vowel">œ</a>/</span>, which disappeared from the language quite early. Replaced by <a href="/wiki/Oe_(digraph)" class="mw-redirect" title="Oe (digraph)">oe</a><sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>l<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and <a href="/wiki/E" title="E">e</a> now.</li> <li>Ƿ ƿ <i><a href="/wiki/Wynn" title="Wynn">Wyn</a></i>, <i>ƿen</i> (Kentish) or <i>wynn</i> <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'w' in 'wind'">w</span><span title="/ɪ/: 'i' in 'kit'">ɪ</span><span title="'n' in 'nigh'">n</span></span>/</a></span></span>, used for the consonant <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="'w' in 'wind'">w</span></span>/</a></span></span>. (The letter 'w' had not yet been invented.) Replaced by <a href="/wiki/W" title="W">w</a> now.</li> <li>Ȝ ȝ <i><a href="/wiki/Yogh" title="Yogh">Yogh</a></i>, <i>ȝogh</i> or <i>yoch</i> <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/ɒ/: 'o' in 'body'">ɒ</span><span title="/ɡ/: 'g' in 'guy'">ɡ</span></span>/</a></span></span> or <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/ɒ/: 'o' in 'body'">ɒ</span><span title="/x/: 'ch' in 'loch'">x</span></span>/</a></span></span>, used for various sounds derived from <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ɡ/: 'g' in 'guy'">ɡ</span></span>/</a></span></span>, such as <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span></span>/</a></span></span> and <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/x/: 'ch' in 'loch'">x</span></span>/</a></span></span>. Replaced by <a href="/wiki/Y" title="Y">y</a>, <a href="/wiki/J" title="J">j</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>m<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <a href="/wiki/Gh_(digraph)" title="Gh (digraph)">gh</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Ch_(digraph)" title="Ch (digraph)">ch</a><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>n<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> now.</li> <li>ſ <i><a href="/wiki/Long_s" title="Long s">long s</a></i>, an earlier form of the <a href="/wiki/Lowercase" class="mw-redirect" title="Lowercase">lowercase</a> "s" that continued to be used alongside the modern lowercase s into the 1800s. Replaced by lowercase <a href="/wiki/S" title="S">s</a> now.</li> <li>ꝛ <i><a href="/wiki/R_rotunda" title="R rotunda">r rotunda</a></i>, an alternative form of the lowercase "r".</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Diacritics">Diacritics</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Diacritics"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/English_terms_with_diacritical_marks" title="English terms with diacritical marks">English terms with diacritical marks</a></div> <p>The most common diacritic marks seen in English publications are the acute (é), grave (è), circumflex (â, î, or ô), tilde (ñ), umlaut and diaeresis (ü or ï—the same symbol is used for two different purposes), and cedilla (ç).<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Diacritics used for <a href="/wiki/Tone_(linguistics)" title="Tone (linguistics)">tonal languages</a> may be replaced with <a href="/wiki/Tone_number" title="Tone number">tonal numbers</a> or omitted. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Loanwords">Loanwords</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Loanwords"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Diacritic" title="Diacritic">Diacritic</a> marks mainly appear in loanwords such as <i>naïve</i> and <i>façade</i>. Informal English writing tends to omit diacritics because of their absence from the keyboard, while professional copywriters and typesetters tend to include them. </p><p>As such words become naturalised in English, there is a tendency to drop the diacritics, as has happened with many older borrowings from French, such as <i>hôtel</i>. Words that are still perceived as foreign tend to retain them; for example, the only spelling of <i>soupçon</i> found in English dictionaries (the <a href="/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary" title="Oxford English Dictionary">OED</a> and others) uses the diacritic. However, diacritics are likely to be retained even in naturalised words where they would otherwise be confused with a common native English word (for example, <i>résumé</i> rather than <i>resume</i>).<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Rarely, they may even be added to a loanword for this reason (as in <i>maté</i>, from Spanish <i><a href="/wiki/Yerba_mate" title="Yerba mate">yerba mate</a></i> but following the pattern of <i>café</i>, from French, to distinguish from <i>mate</i>). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Native_English_words">Native English words</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Native English words"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Occasionally, especially in older writing, diacritics are used to indicate the <a href="/wiki/Syllable" title="Syllable">syllables</a> of a word: <i>cursed</i> (verb) is pronounced with one syllable, while <i>cursèd</i> (<a href="/wiki/Adjective" title="Adjective">adjective</a>) is pronounced with two. For this, <i>è</i> is used widely in poetry, e.g., in Shakespeare's sonnets. <a href="/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien" title="J. R. R. Tolkien">J. R. R. Tolkien</a> used <i>ë</i>, as in <i>O wingëd crown</i>. </p><p>Similarly, while in <i>chicken coop</i> the letters <i>-oo-</i> represent a single vowel sound (a <a href="/wiki/Digraph_(orthography)" title="Digraph (orthography)">digraph</a>), they less often represent two which may be marked with a diaresis as in <i>zoölogist</i><sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and <i>coöperation</i>. This use of the <a href="/wiki/Diaeresis_(diacritic)" title="Diaeresis (diacritic)">diaeresis</a> is rare but found in some well-known publications, such as <i><a href="/wiki/MIT_Technology_Review" title="MIT Technology Review">MIT Technology Review</a></i> and <i><a href="/wiki/The_New_Yorker" title="The New Yorker">The New Yorker</a></i>. Some publications, particularly in UK usage, have replaced the diaeresis with a hyphen such as in co-operative.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2021)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>In general, these devices are not used even where they would serve to alleviate some degree of confusion. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Punctuation_marks_within_words">Punctuation marks within words</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Punctuation marks within words"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Apostrophe">Apostrophe</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Apostrophe"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Apostrophe" title="Apostrophe">apostrophe</a> (ʼ) is not usually considered part of the English alphabet nor used as a diacritic, even in loanwords. But it is used for two important purposes in written English: to mark the "possessive"<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>o<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and to mark <a href="/wiki/Contraction_(grammar)" title="Contraction (grammar)">contracted</a> words. Current standards require its use for both purposes. Therefore, apostrophes are necessary to spell many words even in isolation, unlike most punctuation marks, which are concerned with indicating sentence structure and other relationships among multiple words. </p> <ul><li>It distinguishes (from the otherwise identical regular <a href="/wiki/Plural" title="Plural">plural</a> inflection <i>-s</i>) the English <a href="/wiki/Possessive" title="Possessive">possessive</a> morpheme "<i>'s"</i> (apostrophe alone after a regular plural affix, giving <i>-s'</i> as the standard mark for plural + possessive). Practice settled in the 18th century; before then, practices varied but typically all three endings were written <i>-s</i> (but without cumulation). This meant that only regular nouns bearing neither could be confidently identified, and plural and possessive could be potentially confused (e.g., "the Apostles words"<i>;</i> "those things over there are my husbands"<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>)—which undermines the logic of "<a href="/wiki/Marker_(linguistics)" title="Marker (linguistics)">marked</a>" forms.</li> <li>Many common contractions have near-<a href="/wiki/Homograph" title="Homograph">homographs</a> from which they are distinguished in writing only by an apostrophe, for example <i>it's</i> (<i>it is</i> or <i>it has</i>) as opposed to <i>its</i>, the possessive form of "it", or <i>she'd</i> (<i>she would</i> or <i>she had</i>) as opposed to <i>shed</i>.</li></ul> <p>In a <i><a href="/wiki/Chronicle_of_Higher_Education" class="mw-redirect" title="Chronicle of Higher Education">Chronicle of Higher Education</a></i> blog, <a href="/wiki/Geoffrey_Pullum" class="mw-redirect" title="Geoffrey Pullum">Geoffrey Pullum</a> argued that apostrophe is the 27th letter of the alphabet, arguing that it does not function as a form of <a href="/wiki/Punctuation" title="Punctuation">punctuation</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Hyphen">Hyphen</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Hyphen"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><a href="/wiki/Hyphen" title="Hyphen">Hyphens</a> are often used in English <a href="/wiki/Compound_(linguistics)" title="Compound (linguistics)">compound words</a>. Written compound words may be hyphenated, open or closed, so specifics are guided by <a href="/wiki/Style_guide" title="Style guide">stylistic policy</a>. Some writers may use a <a href="/wiki/Slash_(punctuation)" title="Slash (punctuation)">slash</a> in certain instances. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Frequencies">Frequencies</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Frequencies"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Letter_frequency" title="Letter frequency">Letter frequency</a></div> <p>The letter most commonly used in English is E. The least used letter is Z. The frequencies shown in the table may differ in practice according to the type of text.<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Phonology">Phonology</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Phonology"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/English_phonology" title="English phonology">English phonology</a></div> <p>The letters A, E, I, O, and U are considered vowel letters, since (except when silent) they represent <a href="/wiki/Vowel" title="Vowel">vowels</a>, although I and U represent consonants in words such as "onion" and "quail" respectively. </p><p>The letter Y sometimes represents a consonant (as in "young") and sometimes a vowel (as in "myth"). Very rarely, W may represent a vowel (as in "cwm", a <a href="/wiki/Welsh_language" title="Welsh language">Welsh</a> loanword). </p><p>The consonant sounds represented by the letters W and Y in English (/w/ and /j/ as in went /wɛnt/ and yes /jɛs/) are referred to as <a href="/wiki/Semivowel" title="Semivowel">semi-vowels</a> (or <i>glides</i>) by linguists, however this is a description that applies to the <i>sounds</i> represented by the letters and not to the letters themselves. </p><p>The remaining letters are considered consonant letters, since when not silent they generally represent <a href="/wiki/Consonant" title="Consonant">consonants</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: History"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_alphabet" class="mw-redirect" title="History of the Latin alphabet">History of the Latin alphabet</a> and <a href="/wiki/English_orthography" title="English orthography">English orthography</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Old_English">Old English</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Old English"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1236090951"><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="/wiki/Old_English_Latin_alphabet" title="Old English Latin alphabet">Old English Latin alphabet</a></div> <p>The <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English language</a> itself was initially written in the <a href="/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_runes" title="Anglo-Saxon runes">Anglo-Saxon futhorc</a> runic alphabet, in use from the 5th century. This alphabet was brought to what is now England, along with the proto-form of the language itself, by <a href="/wiki/Anglo-Saxons" title="Anglo-Saxons">Anglo-Saxon</a> settlers. Very few examples of this form of written <a href="/wiki/Old_English" title="Old English">Old English</a> have survived, mostly as short inscriptions or fragments. </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/Latin_script" title="Latin script">Latin script</a>, introduced by Christian missionaries, began to replace the Anglo-Saxon futhorc from about the 7th century, although the two continued in parallel for some time. As such, the Old English alphabet began to employ parts of the Roman alphabet in its construction.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Futhorc influenced the emerging English alphabet by providing it with the letters <i><a href="/wiki/Thorn_(letter)" title="Thorn (letter)">thorn</a></i> (Þ þ) and <i><a href="/wiki/Wynn" title="Wynn">wynn</a></i> (Ƿ ƿ). The letter <i><a href="/wiki/Eth" title="Eth">eth</a></i> (Ð ð) was later devised as a modification of <i><a href="/wiki/D" title="D">dee</a></i> (D d), and finally <i><a href="/wiki/Yogh" title="Yogh">yogh</a></i> (<span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language text"><i lang="ang">Ȝ</i></span> <span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language text"><i lang="ang">ȝ</i></span>) was created by Norman scribes from the <a href="/wiki/Insular_G" title="Insular G">insular <i>g</i></a> in Old English and <a href="/wiki/Irish_language" title="Irish language">Irish</a>, and used alongside their <a href="/wiki/Carolingian_g" class="mw-redirect" title="Carolingian g">Carolingian <i>g</i></a>. </p><p>The a-e <a href="/wiki/Ligature_(writing)" title="Ligature (writing)">ligature</a> <i><a href="/wiki/%C3%86" title="Æ">ash</a></i> (Æ æ) was adopted as a letter in its own right, named after a futhorc rune <i><a href="/wiki/Ansuz_(rune)" title="Ansuz (rune)">æsc</a></i>. In very early Old English the o-e ligature <i><a href="/wiki/%C5%92" title="Œ">ethel</a></i> (Œ œ) also appeared as a distinct letter, likewise named after a rune, <i><a href="/wiki/Odal_(rune)" class="mw-redirect" title="Odal (rune)">œðel</a></i>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2014)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> Additionally, the v–v or u-u ligature <i><a href="/wiki/Double-u" class="mw-redirect" title="Double-u">double-u</a></i> (W w) was in use. </p><p>In the year 1011, a monk named <a href="/wiki/Byrhtferth" title="Byrhtferth">Byrhtferð</a> recorded the traditional order of the Old English alphabet.<sup id="cite_ref-Evertype_12-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Evertype-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He listed the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet first, including the <a href="/wiki/Ampersand" title="Ampersand">ampersand</a>, then 5 additional English letters, starting with the <a href="/wiki/Tironian_notes" title="Tironian notes">Tironian note</a> <i>ond</i> (⁊), an insular symbol for <i>and</i>: </p> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r996643573">.mw-parser-output .block-indent{padding-left:3em;padding-right:0;overflow:hidden}</style><div class="block-indent" style="font-family:monospace"><span style="font-size:120%">A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z & ⁊ Ƿ Þ Ð Æ</span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Modern_English">Modern English</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Modern English"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In the <a href="/wiki/English_orthography" title="English orthography">orthography</a> of <a href="/wiki/Modern_English" title="Modern English">Modern English</a>, the letters <a href="/wiki/Thorn_(letter)" title="Thorn (letter)">thorn</a> (þ), <a href="/wiki/Eth" title="Eth">eth</a> (ð), <a href="/wiki/Wynn" title="Wynn">wynn</a> (ƿ), <a href="/wiki/Yogh" title="Yogh">yogh</a> (<span title="Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language text"><i lang="ang">ȝ</i></span>), <a href="/wiki/%C3%86" title="Æ">ash</a> (æ), and <a href="/wiki/Ethel_(letter)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ethel (letter)">ethel</a> (œ) are obsolete. <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> borrowings reintroduced homographs of æ and œ into <a href="/wiki/Middle_English" title="Middle English">Middle English</a> and <a href="/wiki/Early_Modern_English" title="Early Modern English">Early Modern English</a>, though they are largely obsolete (see "Ligatures in recent usage" below), and where they are used they are not considered to be separate letters (e.g., for collation purposes), but rather <a href="/wiki/Typographic_ligature" class="mw-redirect" title="Typographic ligature">ligatures</a>. Thorn and eth were both replaced by <i><a href="/wiki/Th_(digraph)" title="Th (digraph)">th</a></i>, though thorn continued in existence for some time, its lowercase form gradually becoming graphically indistinguishable from the <a href="/wiki/Lower_case" class="mw-redirect" title="Lower case">minuscule</a> <a href="/wiki/Y" title="Y">y</a> in most handwriting. <i>Y</i> for <i><a href="/wiki/Th_(digraph)" title="Th (digraph)">th</a></i> can still be seen in <a href="/w/index.php?title=Pseudo-archaisms&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Pseudo-archaisms (page does not exist)">pseudo-archaisms</a> such as "<a href="/wiki/Ye_Olde" class="mw-redirect" title="Ye Olde">Ye Olde</a> Booke Shoppe". The letters þ and ð are still used in present-day <a href="/wiki/Icelandic_language" title="Icelandic language">Icelandic</a> (where they now represent two separate sounds, <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/θ/</span> and <span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ð/</span> having become phonemically-distinct – as indeed also happened in Modern English), while ð is still used in present-day <a href="/wiki/Faroese_language" title="Faroese language">Faroese</a> (although only as a silent letter). Wynn disappeared from English around the 14th century when it was supplanted by <i>uu</i>, which ultimately developed into the modern <i>w</i>. Yogh disappeared around the 15th century and was typically replaced by <i>gh</i>. </p><p>The letters <i><a href="/wiki/U" title="U">u</a></i> and <i><a href="/wiki/J" title="J">j</a></i>, as distinct from <i><a href="/wiki/V" title="V">v</a></i> and <i><a href="/wiki/I" title="I">i</a></i>, were introduced in the 16th century, and <i>w</i> assumed the status of an independent letter. The variant lowercase form <a href="/wiki/Long_s" title="Long s">long s</a> (ſ) lasted into <a href="/wiki/Early_Modern_English" title="Early Modern English">early modern English</a>, and was used in non-final position up to the early 19th century. Today, the English alphabet is considered to consist of the following 26 letters: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><div class="hlist" style="margin-left: 1.6em;"> <ul><li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/A" title="A">A</a> a</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/B" title="B">B</a> b</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/C" title="C">C</a> c</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/D" title="D">D</a> d</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/E" title="E">E</a> e</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/F" title="F">F</a> f</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/G" title="G">G</a> g</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/H" title="H">H</a> h</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/I" title="I">I</a> i</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/J" title="J">J</a> j</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/K" title="K">K</a> k</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/L" title="L">L</a> l</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/M" title="M">M</a> m</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/N" title="N">N</a> n</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/O" title="O">O</a> o</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/P" title="P">P</a> p</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/Q" title="Q">Q</a> q</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/R" title="R">R</a> r</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/S" title="S">S</a> s</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/T" title="T">T</a> t</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/U" title="U">U</a> u</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/V" title="V">V</a> v</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/W" title="W">W</a> w</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/X" title="X">X</a> x</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/Y" title="Y">Y</a> y</span></li> <li><span class="nowrap"><a href="/wiki/Z" title="Z">Z</a> z</span></li></ul> </div> <p>Written English has a number of <a href="/wiki/Digraph_(orthography)" title="Digraph (orthography)">digraphs</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> but they are not considered separate letters of the alphabet: </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><div class="hlist" style="margin-left: 1.6em;"> <ul><li>ch (usually makes tsh sound)</li> <li>ci (makes s sound)</li> <li>ck (makes k sound)</li> <li>gh (makes f or g sound (also silent))</li> <li>ng (makes a <a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_nasal" title="Voiced velar nasal">voiced velar nasal</a>)</li> <li>ph (makes f sound)</li> <li>qu (makes kw sound)</li> <li>rh (makes r sound)</li> <li>sc (makes s sound (also a blend)<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="blend of what? (March 2023)">clarification needed</span></a></i>]</sup>)</li> <li>sh (makes ch sound without t)</li> <li>th (makes theta or eth sound)</li> <li>ti (makes sh sound)</li> <li>wh (makes w sound)</li> <li>wr (makes r sound)</li> <li>zh (makes j sound without d)</li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Ligatures_in_recent_usage">Ligatures in recent usage</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Ligatures in recent usage"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Caslon_Pro_Ligatures.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Caslon_Pro_Ligatures.svg/220px-Caslon_Pro_Ligatures.svg.png" decoding="async" width="220" height="188" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Caslon_Pro_Ligatures.svg/330px-Caslon_Pro_Ligatures.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Caslon_Pro_Ligatures.svg/440px-Caslon_Pro_Ligatures.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="480" data-file-height="410" /></a><figcaption>The <a href="/wiki/Ligature_(writing)" title="Ligature (writing)">ligatures</a> of <a href="/wiki/Caslon" title="Caslon">Adobe Caslon Pro</a></figcaption></figure> <p>Outside of professional papers on specific subjects that traditionally use ligatures in <a href="/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword">loanwords</a>, ligatures are seldom used in modern English. The ligatures <i><a href="/wiki/%C3%86" title="Æ">æ</a></i> and <i><a href="/wiki/%C5%92" title="Œ">œ</a></i> were until the 19th century (slightly later in American English)<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2014)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> used in formal writing for certain words of Greek or Latin origin, such as <i><a href="/wiki/Encyclopedia" title="Encyclopedia">encyclopædia</a></i> and <i><a href="/wiki/Coelom" title="Coelom">cœlom</a></i>, although such ligatures were not used in either classical Latin or ancient Greek. These are now usually rendered as "ae" and "oe" in all types of writing,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2014)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> although in American English, a lone <i>e</i> has mostly supplanted both (for example, <i>encyclopedia</i> for <i>encyclopaedia</i>, and <i>maneuver</i> for <i>manoeuvre</i>). </p><p>Some <a href="/wiki/Typeface" title="Typeface">typefaces</a> used to typeset English texts contain commonly used ligatures, such as for <span class="nowrap">⟨tt⟩</span>, <span class="nowrap">⟨fi⟩</span>, <span class="nowrap">⟨fl⟩</span>, <span class="nowrap">⟨ffi⟩</span>, and <span class="nowrap">⟨ffl⟩</span>. These are not independent letters – although in traditional <a href="/wiki/Typesetting" title="Typesetting">typesetting</a>, each of these ligatures would have its own <a href="/wiki/Sort_(typesetting)" title="Sort (typesetting)">sort</a> (type element) for practical reasons –  but simply <a href="/wiki/Type_design" title="Type design">type design</a> choices created to optimize the legibility of the text. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Proposed_reforms">Proposed reforms</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Proposed reforms"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>There have been a number of proposals to <a href="/wiki/English-language_spelling_reform#Extending_or_replacing_the_basic_English_alphabet" title="English-language spelling reform">extend or replace the basic English alphabet</a>. These include proposals for the addition of letters to the English alphabet, such as <i><a href="/wiki/Eng_(letter)" title="Eng (letter)">eng</a></i> or <i>engma</i> (Ŋ ŋ), used to replace the digraph "<a href="/wiki/Ng_(digraph)" class="mw-redirect" title="Ng (digraph)">ng</a>" and represent the <a href="/wiki/Voiced_velar_nasal" title="Voiced velar nasal">voiced velar nasal</a> sound with a single letter. <a href="/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin%27s_phonetic_alphabet" title="Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet">Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet</a>, based on the Latin alphabet, introduced a number of new letters as part of a wider proposal to reform English orthography. Other proposals have gone further, proposing entirely new scripts for written English to replace the Latin alphabet such as the <a href="/wiki/Deseret_alphabet" title="Deseret alphabet">Deseret alphabet</a> and the <a href="/wiki/Shavian_alphabet" title="Shavian alphabet">Shavian alphabet</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alphabet_song" class="mw-redirect" title="Alphabet song">Alphabet song</a> – Song that teaches an alphabet<span style="display:none" class="category-annotation-with-redirected-description">Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets</span></li> <li><a href="/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet" title="NATO phonetic alphabet">NATO phonetic alphabet</a> – Letter names for unambiguous communication</li> <li><a href="/wiki/English_orthography" title="English orthography">English orthography</a> – English spelling and punctuating rules</li> <li><a href="/wiki/English-language_spelling_reform" title="English-language spelling reform">English-language spelling reform</a> – Proposed reforms to English spelling to be more phonetic</li> <li><a href="/wiki/American_manual_alphabet" title="American manual alphabet">American manual alphabet</a> – Manual alphabet that augments the vocabulary of American Sign Language</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Two-handed_manual_alphabets" title="Two-handed manual alphabets">Two-handed manual alphabets</a> – Part of a deaf sign language</li> <li><a href="/wiki/English_Braille" title="English Braille">English Braille</a> – Tactile writing system for English</li> <li><a href="/wiki/American_Braille" title="American Braille">American Braille</a> – Former braille used for the English language in the United States of America</li> <li><a href="/wiki/New_York_Point" title="New York Point">New York Point</a> – Tactile alphabet invented by William Bell Wait</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chinese_respelling_of_the_English_alphabet" title="Chinese respelling of the English alphabet">Chinese respelling of the English alphabet</a> – Chinese pronunciation of the English alphabet</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Burmese_respelling_of_the_English_alphabet" title="Burmese respelling of the English alphabet">Burmese respelling of the English alphabet</a> – Burmese Transcription</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Base36" title="Base36">Base36</a> – Binary-to-text encoding scheme</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes_and_references">Notes and references</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: Notes and references"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Notes">Notes</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: Notes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-lower-alpha"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">often in <a href="/wiki/Hiberno-English" title="Hiberno-English">Hiberno-English</a>, due to the letter's pronunciation in the <a href="/wiki/Irish_language" title="Irish language">Irish language</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">The usual form in <a href="/wiki/Hiberno-English" title="Hiberno-English">Hiberno-English</a> and Australian English</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">The letter J did not occur in Old French or Middle English. The Modern French name is <i>ji</i> /ʒi/, corresponding to Modern English <i>jy</i> (rhyming with <i>i</i>), which in most areas was later replaced with <i>jay</i> (rhyming with <i>kay</i>).</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in <a href="/wiki/Scottish_English" title="Scottish English">Scottish English</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">In the US, an L-shaped object may be spelled <i>ell</i>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in <a href="/wiki/Hiberno-English" title="Hiberno-English">Hiberno-English</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in compounds such as <i>es-hook</i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Especially in American English, the /l/ is often not pronounced in informal speech. <i>(Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary</i>, 10th ed). Common colloquial pronunciations are <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'d' in 'dye'">d</span><span title="/ʌ/: 'u' in 'cut'">ʌ</span><span title="'b' in 'buy'">b</span><span title="/ə/: 'a' in 'about'">ə</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/uː/: 'oo' in 'goose'">uː</span></span>/</a></span></span>, <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'d' in 'dye'">d</span><span title="/ʌ/: 'u' in 'cut'">ʌ</span><span title="'b' in 'buy'">b</span><span title="/ə/: 'a' in 'about'">ə</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/ə/: 'a' in 'about'">ə</span></span>/</a></span></span>, and <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'d' in 'dye'">d</span><span title="/ʌ/: 'u' in 'cut'">ʌ</span><span title="'b' in 'buy'">b</span><span title="/j/: 'y' in 'yes'">j</span><span title="/ə/: 'a' in 'about'">ə</span></span>/</a></span></span> (as in the nickname "Dubya") or just <span class="rt-commentedText nowrap"><span class="IPA nopopups noexcerpt" lang="en-fonipa"><a href="/wiki/Help:IPA/English" title="Help:IPA/English">/<span style="border-bottom:1px dotted"><span title="/ˈ/: primary stress follows">ˈ</span><span title="'d' in 'dye'">d</span><span title="/ʌ/: 'u' in 'cut'">ʌ</span><span title="'b' in 'buy'">b</span></span>/</a></span></span>, especially in terms like <i>www.</i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in <a href="/wiki/British_English" title="British English">British English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Hiberno-English" title="Hiberno-English">Hiberno-English</a> and <a href="/wiki/English_in_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations" title="English in the Commonwealth of Nations">Commonwealth English</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in <a href="/wiki/American_English" title="American English">American English</a>, <a href="/wiki/Newfoundland_English" title="Newfoundland English">Newfoundland English</a> and <a href="/wiki/Philippine_English" title="Philippine English">Philippine English</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in British English</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in British English</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in words like <i>hallelujah</i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">in words like <i>loch</i> in Scottish English</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Linguistic analyses vary on how best to characterise the English possessive morpheme <i>-'s</i>: a noun case inflectional suffix distinct to <i>possession</i>, a <i>genitive case</i> inflectional suffix equivalent to prepositional periphrastic <i>of X</i> (or rarely <i>for X</i>), an <i>edge inflection</i> that uniquely attaches to a noun phrase's final (rather than <i>head</i>) word, or an <i>enclitic postposition</i>.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="References">References</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=21" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239543626"><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>The Oxford English Dictionary,</i> 2nd edition.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Evertype-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Evertype_12-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Evertype_12-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Michael Everson, Evertype, Baldur Sigurðsson, Íslensk Málstöð, <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.evertype.com/standards/wynnyogh/thorn.html">On the Status of the Latin Letter Þorn and of its Sorting Order</a></i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/moore/moore.html#moore5">"The Dixie Primer, for the Little Folks"</a>. <i>Branson, Farrar & Co., Raleigh NC</i>.</cite><span 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title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Fontology&rft.atitle=Accents+%26+Accented+Characters&rft.aulast=Strizver&rft.aufirst=Ilene&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fonts.com%2Fcontent%2Flearning%2Ffontology%2Flevel-3%2Fsigns-and-symbols%2Faccents&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation cs2"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.mhra.org.uk/style"><i>MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors and Editors</i></a> <span class="cs1-format">(pdf)</span> (3rd ed.), London: <a href="/wiki/Modern_Humanities_Research_Association" title="Modern Humanities Research Association">Modern Humanities Research Association</a>, 2013, Section 2.2, <a 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(March 22, 2013). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/03/21/being-an-apostrophe/">"Being an apostrophe"</a>. <i>Lingua Franca</i>. <a href="/wiki/Chronicle_of_Higher_Education" class="mw-redirect" title="Chronicle of Higher Education">Chronicle of Higher Education</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231013205712/https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/03/21/being-an-apostrophe/">Archived</a> from the original on Oct 13, 2023.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Lingua+Franca&rft.atitle=Being+an+apostrophe&rft.date=2013-03-22&rft.aulast=Pullum&rft.aufirst=Geoffrey+K.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.chronicle.com%2Fblogs%2Flinguafranca%2F2013%2F03%2F21%2Fbeing-an-apostrophe%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFBekerPiper1982" class="citation book cs1">Beker, Henry; Piper, Fred (1982). <i>Cipher Systems: The Protection of Communications</i>. <a href="/wiki/Wiley-Interscience" class="mw-redirect" title="Wiley-Interscience">Wiley-Interscience</a>. p. 397.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Cipher+Systems%3A+The+Protection+of+Communications&rft.pages=397&rft.pub=Wiley-Interscience&rft.date=1982&rft.aulast=Beker&rft.aufirst=Henry&rft.au=Piper%2C+Fred&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span> Table also available from <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLewand2000" class="citation book cs1">Lewand, Robert (2000). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=CyCcRAm7eQMC&pg=PA36"><i>Cryptological Mathematics</i></a>. <a href="/wiki/Mathematical_Association_of_America" title="Mathematical Association of America">Mathematical Association of America</a>. p. 36. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0883857199" title="Special:BookSources/978-0883857199"><bdi>978-0883857199</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Cryptological+Mathematics&rft.pages=36&rft.pub=Mathematical+Association+of+America&rft.date=2000&rft.isbn=978-0883857199&rft.aulast=Lewand&rft.aufirst=Robert&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DCyCcRAm7eQMC%26pg%3DPA36&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span> and <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080708193159/http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html">"English letter frequencies"</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html">the original</a> on 2008-07-08<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2008-06-25</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=English+letter+frequencies&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fpages.central.edu%2Femp%2FLintonT%2Fclasses%2Fspring01%2Fcryptography%2Fletterfreq.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFShaw2013" class="citation journal cs1">Shaw, Phillip (May 2013). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/emed.12012">"Adapting the Roman alphabet for Writing Old English: Evidence from Coin Epigraphy and Single-Sheet Characters"</a>. <i>Early Medieval Europe</i>. <b>21</b> (2). Wiley Blackwell: 115–139. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1111%2Femed.12012">10.1111/emed.12012</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:163075636">163075636</a> – via Ebscohost.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Early+Medieval+Europe&rft.atitle=Adapting+the+Roman+alphabet+for+Writing+Old+English%3A+Evidence+from+Coin+Epigraphy+and+Single-Sheet+Characters&rft.volume=21&rft.issue=2&rft.pages=115-139&rft.date=2013-05&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1111%2Femed.12012&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A163075636%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft.aulast=Shaw&rft.aufirst=Phillip&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdx.doi.org%2F10.1111%2Femed.12012&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160413162011/http://www.phonicsontheweb.com/digraphs.php">"Digraphs (Phonics on the Web)"</a>. <i>phonicsontheweb.com</i>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.phonicsontheweb.com/digraphs.php">the original</a> on 2016-04-13<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2016-04-07</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=phonicsontheweb.com&rft.atitle=Digraphs+%28Phonics+on+the+Web%29&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.phonicsontheweb.com%2Fdigraphs.php&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=English_alphabet&action=edit&section=22" title="Edit section: Further reading"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMichael_Rosen2015" class="citation book cs1">Michael Rosen (2015). <i>Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story</i>. Counterpoint. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1619027022" title="Special:BookSources/978-1619027022"><bdi>978-1619027022</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Alphabetical%3A+How+Every+Letter+Tells+a+Story&rft.pub=Counterpoint&rft.date=2015&rft.isbn=978-1619027022&rft.au=Michael+Rosen&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFUpwardDavidson2011" class="citation cs2"><a href="/wiki/Christopher_Upward" title="Christopher Upward">Upward, Christopher</a>; Davidson, George (2011), <i>The History of English Spelling</i>, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4051-9024-4" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-4051-9024-4"><bdi>978-1-4051-9024-4</bdi></a>, <a href="/wiki/LCCN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="LCCN (identifier)">LCCN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lccn.loc.gov/2011008794">2011008794</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=The+History+of+English+Spelling&rft.place=Oxford&rft.pub=Wiley-Blackwell&rft.date=2011&rft_id=info%3Alccn%2F2011008794&rft.isbn=978-1-4051-9024-4&rft.aulast=Upward&rft.aufirst=Christopher&rft.au=Davidson%2C+George&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AEnglish+alphabet" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid 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