The modern English alphabet is a Latin alphabet consisting of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. It originated around the 7th century from the Latin script. Since then, letters have been added or removed to give the current Modern English alphabet of 26 letters (the same as in the ISO basic Latin alphabet):
A a · B b · C c · D d · E e · F f · G g · H h · I i · J j · K k · L l · M m · N n · O o · P p · Q q · R r · S s · T t · U u · V v · W w · X x · Y y · Z z
Letters[]
The names of the letters are rarely spelled out. Some compound words (e.g., tee-shirt, deejay, emcee, okay, etc.), derived forms (e.g., exed out, effing, to eff and blind, aitchless, etc.) and objects named after letters (e.g., em in printing and wye in railroading) may be written with the letter names. The spellings listed below are from the Oxford English Dictionary. Plurals of consonant names are formed by adding -s (e.g., bees, efs, ems) or -es in the cases of aitch, ess, and ex (i.e., aitches, esses, exes). Plurals of vowel names add -es (i.e., aes, ees, ies, oes, ues), but these are rare. Most commonly, the letter (generally in capitalized form) and not its name is used, in which case plurals just add -s.
| Letter | Name | Name pronunciation | Frequency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modern English | Latin | Modern English | Latin | Old French | Middle English | ||
| A | a | ā | /ˈeɪ/, /ˈæ/[nb 1] | /aː/ | /aː/ | /aː/ | 8.17% |
| B | bee | bē | /ˈbiː/ | /beː/ | /beː/ | /beː/ | 1.49% |
| C | cee | cē | /ˈsiː/ | /keː/ | /tʃeː/ > /tseː/ > /seː/ | /seː/ | 2.78% |
| D | dee | dē | /ˈdiː/ | /deː/ | /deː/ | /deː/ | 4.25% |
| E | e | ē | /ˈiː/ | /eː/ | /eː/ | /eː/ | 12.70% |
| F | ef | ef | /ˈɛf/ | /ɛf/ | /ɛf/ | /ɛf/ | 2.23% |
| eff as a verb | |||||||
| G | gee | gē | /ˈdʒiː/ | /ɡeː/ | /dʒeː/ | /dʒeː/ | 2.02% |
| H | aitch | hā | /ˈeɪtʃ/ | /haː/ > /ˈaha/ > /ˈakːa/ | /ˈaːtʃə/ | /aːtʃ/ | 6.09% |
| haitch[nb 2] | /ˈheɪtʃ/ | ||||||
| I | i | ī | /ˈaɪ/ | /iː/ | /iː/ | /iː/ | 6.97% |
| J | jay | – | /ˈdʒeɪ/ | – | – | [nb 3] | 0.15% |
| jy[nb 4] | /ˈdʒaɪ/ | ||||||
| K | kay | kā | /ˈkeɪ/ | /kaː/ | /kaː/ | /kaː/ | 0.77% |
| L | el | el | /ˈɛl/ | /ɛl/ | /ɛl/ | /ɛl/ | 4.03% |
| ell as a verb | |||||||
| M | em | em | /ˈɛm/ | /ɛm/ | /ɛm/ | /ɛm/ | 2.41% |
| N | en | en | /ˈɛn/ | /ɛn/ | /ɛn/ | /ɛn/ | 6.75% |
| O | o | ō | /ˈoʊ/ | /oː/ | /oː/ | /oː/ | 7.51% |
| P | pee | pē | /ˈpiː/ | /peː/ | /peː/ | /peː/ | 1.93% |
| Q | cue[nb 5] | qū | /ˈkjuː/ | /kuː/ | /kyː/ | /kiw/ | 0.10% |
| R | ar | er | /ˈɑr/ | /ɛr/ | /ɛr/ | /ɛr/ > /ar/ | 5.99% |
| or[nb 6] | /ˈɔr/ | ||||||
| S | ess | es | /ˈɛs/ | /ɛs/ | /ɛs/ | /ɛs/ | 6.33% |
| es- in compounds[nb 7] | |||||||
| T | tee | tē | /ˈtiː/ | /teː/ | /teː/ | /teː/ | 9.06% |
| U | u | ū | /ˈjuː/ | /uː/ | /yː/ | /iw/ | 2.76% |
| V | vee | – | /ˈviː/ | – | – | – | 0.98% |
| W | double-u | – | /ˈdʌbəl.juː/[nb 8] | – | – | – | 2.36% |
| X | ex | ex | /ˈɛks/ | /ɛks/ | /iks/ | /ɛks/ | 0.15% |
| ix | /ɪks/ | ||||||
| Y | wye | hȳ | /ˈwaɪ/ | /hyː/ | ui, gui ? | /wiː/ ? | 1.97% |
| /iː/ | |||||||
| ī graeca | /iː ˈɡraɪka/ | /iː ɡrɛːk/ | |||||
| Z | zed[nb 9] | zēta | /ˈzɛd/ | /ˈzeːta/ | /ˈzɛːdə/ | /zɛd/ | 0.07% |
| zee[nb 10] | /ˈziː/ | ||||||
Etymology[]
The names of the letters are for the most part direct descendants, via French, of the Latin (and Etruscan) names. (See Latin alphabet: Origins.)
The regular phonological developments (in rough chronological order) are:
- palatalization before front vowels of Latin /k/ successively to /tʃ/, /ts/, and finally to Middle French /s/. Affects C.
- palatalization before front vowels of Latin /ɡ/ to Proto-Romance and Middle French /dʒ/. Affects G.
- fronting of Latin /uː/ to Middle French /yː/, becoming Middle English /iw/ and then Modern English /juː/. Affects Q, U.
- the inconsistent lowering of Middle English /ɛr/ to /ar/. Affects R.
- the Great Vowel Shift, shifting all Middle English long vowels. Affects A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, K, O, P, T, and presumably Y.
The novel forms are aitch, a regular development of Medieval Latin acca; jay, a new letter presumably vocalized like neighboring kay to avoid confusion with established gee (the other name, jy, was taken from French); vee, a new letter named by analogy with the majority; double-u, a new letter, self-explanatory (the name of Latin V was ū); wye, of obscure origin but with an antecedent in Old French wi; izzard, from the Romance phrase i zed or i zeto "and Z" said when reciting the alphabet; and zee, an American levelling of zed by analogy with other consonants.
Some groups of letters, such as pee and bee, or em and en, are easily confused in speech, especially when heard over the telephone or a radio communications link. Spelling alphabets such as the ICAO spelling alphabet, used by aircraft pilots, police and others, are designed to eliminate this potential confusion by giving each letter a name that sounds quite different from any other.
Frequencies[]
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.
Ampersand[]
The ampersand (&) has sometimes appeared at the end of the English alphabet, as in Byrhtferð's list of letters in 1011. Historically, the figure is a ligature for the letters Et. In English and many other languages it is used to represent the word and and occasionally the Latin word et, as in the abbreviation &c (et cetera).
Different writing systems[]
Hebrew[]
| /a/~/ɑ/ | /b/~/v/ | /g/ | /d/ | /h/ | /w/ | /z/ | /ɒ/~/ʌ/ | /θ/~/ð/ | /j/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| א | ב | ג | ד | ה | ו | ז | ח | ט | י | ך | ל | מ |
| /u/~/ʊ/ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | /o/~/ɔ/ | /s/ | /p/ | /f/ | /i/~/ɪ/ | /e/~/ɛ/ | /æ/~/ə/ | /r/ | /ʃ/~/ʒ/ | /t/ |
| ם | נ | ן | ס | ע | פ | ף | צ | ץ | ק | ר | ש | ת |
References[]
- ↑ often in Hiberno-English, due to the letter's pronunciation in the Irish language
- ↑ mostly in Hiberno-English, sometimes in Australian English, usually in Indian English and also used in Malaysian English
- ↑ The letter J did not occur in Old French or Middle English. The Modern French name is ji /ʒi/, corresponding to Modern English jy (rhyming with i), which in most areas was later replaced with jay (rhyming with kay).
- ↑ in Scottish English
- ↑ One of the few letter names not spelled with the letter in question. The spelling qu ~ que is obsolete, being attested from the 16th century.
- ↑ in Hiberno-English
- ↑ in compounds such as es-hook
- ↑ Especially in American English, the /l/ is often not pronounced in informal speech. (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed). Common colloquial pronunciations are /ˈdʌbəjuː/, /ˈdʌbəjə/, and /ˈdʌbjə/ (as in the nickname "Dubya"), especially in terms like www.
- ↑ in British English, Hiberno-English and Commonwealth English
- ↑ in American English