English alphabet

The modern **English alphabet** is a Latin alphabet of 26 letters (each having an uppercase and a lowercase form), of which five are vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and 21 are consonants – exactly the same letters that are found in the ISO basic Latin alphabet:

The exact shape of printed letters changes depending on the typeface (and font). The shape of handwritten letters can be very different from the standard printed form (and between individuals), especially when written in cursive style. See the individual letter articles for information about letter shapes and origins (follow the links on any of the uppercase letters above).

Written English uses 18 digraphs (strings of two letters to represent just one sound), such as _ch, sh, th, ph, wh,_ etc., but they are not considered separate letters of the alphabet. Some traditions also call two ligatures, _æ_ and _œ_, and the ampersand (&) part of the alphabet.

### Old English

The English language was first written in Anglo-Saxon futhorc runes, used since the 5th century. This alphabet was brought to what is now England, along with Old English itself, the earliest form of the language, by Anglo-Saxon settlers. Very few examples of this form of written Old English have survived, with most of these being short writings or pieces.

The Latin script, introduced by Christian missionaries, began to replace the Anglo-Saxon futhorc from about the 7th century, although the two continued to be used alongside each other for some time. Futhorc influenced the new Latin-based English alphabet by giving it letters _thorn_ (Þ þ) and _wynn_ (Ƿ ƿ). The letter _eth_ (Ð ð) was later devised as a rewriting of the letter _dee_ (D d), and finally _yogh_ ( ) was created by Norman scribes from the insular _g_ in Old English and Irish, and used alongside their Carolingian _g_.

The a-e ligature _ash_ (Æ æ) was adopted as a letter in its own right, named after a futhorc rune _æsc_. In very early Old English the o-e ligature _ethel_ (Œ œ) also appeared as its own letter, likewise named after a rune, _œðel_. Also, the v-v or u-u ligature _double-u_ (W w) was in use.

In the year 1011, a monk named Byrhtferð recorded the traditional order of the Old English alphabet. He listed the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet first (including ampersand), then 5 additional English letters, starting with the Tironian note _ond_ (⁊), an insular symbol for _and_:
- 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

### Modern English

In the alphabet of Modern English, thorn (þ), eth (ð), wynn (ƿ), yogh (), ash (æ), and ethel (œ) do not exist. Latin borrowings reintroduced homographs of ash and ethel into Middle English and Early Modern English, though they are not thought to be the same letters but rather ligatures, and in any case are somewhat old-fashioned. Thorn and eth were both replaced by _th_, though thorn continued in existence for some time, its lowercase form becoming more and more difficult to tell  from the minuscule y in most handwriting. _Y_ for _th_ can still be seen in pseudo-archaisms (modern writings spelled to look like older words or phrases), such as "Ye Olde Booke Shoppe". The letters þ and ð are still used in present-day Icelandic while ð is still used in present-day Faroese. Wynn disappeared from English around the 14th century when it was supplanted by _uu_, which ultimately developed into the modern _w_. Yogh disappeared around the 15th century and was typically replaced by _gh_.

In the 16th century, the letters _u and j_ were being written as letters distinct from _v_ and _i _respectively. Before thatthe former two letters were just different forms of the latter two letters. w also became its own letter, rather than being thought of as 2 different letters. With these changes, the English alphabet now has 26 letters:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The alternate lowercase form long s (ſ) lasted into early modern English, and was used in non-final position up to the early 19th century.

## Proposed reforms

Different alphabets have been proposed for written English –mostly extending or replacing the basic English alphabet –such as the Deseret alphabet, the Shavian alphabet, Gregg shorthand, etc.

## Diacritics

Diacritic marks (extra marks above or below letters) mainly appear in loanwords such as _naïve_ and _façade_. As such words become a normal part of English vocabulary, there is a tendency to remove the diacritics, as has happened with old borrowings such as _hôtel_, from French. Informal English writing tends to get rid of diacritics because of their absence from the keyboard, while professional copywriters and typesetters tend to include them, such as Microsoft Word. Words that are still thought to be foreign tend to keep them; for example, the only spelling of _soupçon_ found in English dictionaries (the OED and others) uses the diacritic. Diacritics are also more likely to be kept where there would otherwise be confusion with another word (for example, _résumé_ (or _resumé_) rather than _resume_), and, rarely, even added (as in _maté_, from Spanish _yerba mate_, but following the pattern of _café_, from French).

Sometimes, especially in older writing, diacritics are used to show the syllables of a word: _cursed_ (verb) is pronounced with one syllable, while _cursèd_ (adjective) is pronounced with two. _È_ is used widely in poetry, e.g. in Shakespeare's sonnets. J.R.R. Tolkien uses _ë_, as in _O wingëd crown_. Similarly, while in _chicken coop_ the letters _-oo-_ represent a single vowel sound (a digraph), in outdated spellings such as _zoölogist_ and _coöperation_, they represent two.  This use of the diaeresis is rarely seen, but is still used in the 2000s in some publications, such as _MIT Technology Review_ and _The New Yorker_.

An acute, grave, or diaeresis may also be placed over an "e" at the end of a word to indicate that it is not silent, as in _saké_. In general, these markings are often not used even when they could ease some level of confusion.

## Ampersand

The & has sometimes appeared at the end of the English alphabet, like 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).

## Apostrophe

The apostrophe, while not considered part of the English alphabet, is used to contract, or shorten, English phrases. A few pairs of words, such as _its_ (belonging to _it_) and _it's_ (_it is_ or _it has_), _were_ (plural of _was_) and _we're_ (we are), and _shed_ (to get rid of) and _she'd_ (_she would_ or _she had_) are distinguished in writing only by having or not having an apostrophe. The apostrophe also distinguishes the possessive endings _-'s_ and _-s'_ from the common plural ending _-s_, a practice that began in the 18th century; before, all three endings were written _-s_, which could lead to confusion (as in, _the Apostles words_).

## Letter names

The names of the letters are rarely spelled out, except when used in compound words (for example _tee-shirt, deejay, emcee, okay, aitchless,_ etc.), derived forms (for example _exed out, effing, to eff and blind_, etc.), and in the names of objects named after letters (for example _em (space)_ in printing and _wye (junction)_ in railroading). The forms listed below are from the Oxford English Dictionary. Vowels stand for themselves, and consonants usually have the form _consonant + ee_ or _e + consonant_ (e.g. _bee_ and _ef_). The exceptions are the letters _aitch, jay, kay, queue, ar, ess_ (but _es-_ in compounds ), _wye_, and _zed_. Plurals of consonants end in _-s_ (_bees, efs, ems_) or, in the cases of _aitch, ess_, and _ex_, in _-es_ (_aitches, esses, exes_). Plurals of vowels end in _-es_ (_aes, ees, ies, oes, ues_); these are rare. Of course, all letters may stand for themselves, generally in capitalized form (_okay_ or _OK_, _emcee_ or _MC_), and plurals may be based on these (_aes_ or _As_, _cees_ or _Cs_, etc._)_
|Letter|Modern English name|Modern English pronunciation|Latin name|Latin pronunciation|Old French|Middle English|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|A|_a_|,|_ā_|/aː/|/aː/|/aː/|||||||
|B|_bee or be_||_bē_|/beː/|/beː/|/beː/|||||||
|C|_cee_||_cē_|/keː/|/tʃeː/ > /tseː/ > /seː/|/seː/|||||||
|D|_dee_||_dē_|/deː/|/deː/|/deː/|||||||
|E|_e_||_ē_|/eː/|/eː/|/eː/|||||||
|F|_ef_ (_eff_ as a verb)||_ef_|/ɛf/|/ɛf/|/ɛf/|||||||
|rowspan="2"|G|_gee_|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|_gē_|rowspan="2"|/ɡeː/|rowspan="2"|/dʒeː/|rowspan="2"|/dʒeː/|
|_jee_|||||||||||||
|rowspan="2"|H|_'aitch_||rowspan="2"|_hā_|rowspan="2"|/haː/ > /akaˈ/ > /ˈakːa/|rowspan="2"|/ˈaːtʃə/|rowspan="2"|/aːtʃ/||
|_haitch_|||||||||||||
|I|_i_||_ī_|/iː/|/iː/|/iː/|||||||
|rowspan="2"|J|_jay_||rowspan="2"|–|rowspan="2"|–|rowspan="2"|–|rowspan="2"|/ja:/||
|_jy_|||||||||||||
|K|_kay_||_kā_|/kaː/|/kaː/|/kaː/|||||||
|L|_el_ or _ell_||_el_|/ɛl/|/ɛl/|/ɛl/|||||||
|M|_em_||_em_|/ɛm/|/ɛm/|/ɛm/|||||||
|N|_en_||_en_|/ɛn/|/ɛn/|/ɛn/|||||||
|O|_o_||_ō_|/oː/|/oː/|/oː/|||||||
|P|_pe or pee_||_pē_|/peː/|/peː/|/peː/|||||||
|Q|_queue_||_queū_|/kuː/|/kyː/|/kiw/|||||||
|rowspan="2"|R|_ar_||rowspan="2"|_er_|rowspan="2"|/ɛr/|rowspan="2"|/ɛr/|rowspan="2"|/ɛr/ > /ar/||
|_or_|||||||||||||
|S|_ess_ (_es-_)||_es_|/ɛs/|/ɛs/|/ɛs/|||||||
|T|_tee_||_tē_|/teː/|/teː/|/teː/|||||||
|U|_u_||_ū_|/uː/|/yː/|/iw/|||||||
|V|_vee_||–|–|–|–|||||||
|W|_double-u_||–|–|–|–|||||||
|rowspan="2"|X|rowspan="2"|_ex_|rowspan="2"||_ex_|/ɛks/|rowspan="2"|/iks/|rowspan="2"|/ɛks/||
|_ix_|/ɪks/||||||||||||
|rowspan="2"|Y|rowspan="2"|_wye_|rowspan="2"||_hȳ_|/hyː/|_ui, gui_ ?|rowspan="2"|/iː|gre/ ?||
|_ī graeca_|/iː ˈɡraɪka/|/iː ɡrɛːk/|||||||||||
|rowspan="3"|Z|_zed_||rowspan="3"|_zēta_|rowspan="3"|/ˈzeːta/|rowspan="2"|/ˈzɛːdə/|rowspan="2"|/zɛd/||
|_zee_|||||||||||||
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 made to get rid of this confusion by giving each letter a name that sounds quite different from any other.

### Etymology

The names of the letters are for the most part direct descendants of the Latin (and Etruscan) names through French.

The regular phonological developments (in rough chronological order) are:
- palatalization before front vowels of Latin  successively to , , and finally to Middle French . Affects C.
- palatalization before front vowels of Latin  to Proto-Romance and Middle French . Affects G.
- fronting of Latin  to Middle French , becoming Middle English  and then Modern English . Affects Q, U.
- the inconsistent lowering of Middle English  to . 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_; _zee_, an American leveling of _zed_ by analogy with the majority.

## Phonology

The letters A, E, I, O, and U are considered vowel letters, since (except when silent) they represent vowels; the remaining letters are considered consonant letters, since when not silent they generally represent consonants. However, Y commonly represents vowels as well as a consonant (e.g., "myth"), as very rarely does W (e.g., "cwm"). Conversely, U and I sometimes represent a consonant (e.g., "quiz" and "onion" respectively).

W and Y are sometimes called semivowels by linguists.

## Letter numbers and frequencies

The letter most commonly used in English is E. The least used letter is Z.

The table below shows how often each letter is used in written English, although the frequencies change somewhat according to the type of text.
|N|Letter|Frequency||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|A|align="right"|8.17%|
|2|B|align="right"|1.49%|
|3|C|align="right"|2.78%|
|4|D|align="right"|4.25%|
|5|E|align="right"|12.70%|
|6|F|align="right"|2.23%|
|7|G|align="right"|2.02%|
|8|H|align="right"|6.09%|
|9|I|align="right"|6.97%|
|10|J|align="right"|0.15%|
|11|K|align="right"|0.77%|
|12|L|align="right"|4.03%|
|13|M|align="right"|2.41%|
|14|N|align="right"|6.75%|
|15|O|align="right"|7.51%|
|16|P|align="right"|1.93%|
|17|Q|align="right"|0.10%|
|18|R|align="right"|5.99%|
|19|S|align="right"|6.33%|
|20|T|align="right"|9.06%|
|21|U|align="right"|2.76%|
|22|V|align="right"|0.98%|
|23|W|align="right"|2.36%|
|24|X|align="right"|0.15%|
|25|Y|align="right"|1.97%|
|26|Z|align="right"|0.07%|

## Related pages

- Alphabet song
- NATO phonetic alphabet
- English orthography
- English spelling reform
- American manual alphabet
- Two-handed manual alphabets
- English braille
- American braille
- New York Point