View source for English alphabet

{{Short description|Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters}}
{{Infobox writing system
| name        = English alphabet
| type        = [[Alphabet]]
| languages   = [[English language|English]]
| time        = {{circa|16th century}}{{snd}}present
| fam1        = ([[Proto-writing]])
| fam2        = [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
| fam3        = [[Proto-Sinaitic script]]
| fam4        = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| fam5        = [[Greek alphabet]]
| fam6        = [[Old Italic alphabet]]
| fam7        = [[Latin alphabet]]
| children    = {{ubl|[[ISO basic Latin alphabet]]|[[Cherokee syllabary]]|[[Scots language#Orthography|Scots alphabet]]|[[Osage alphabet]]|[[Saanich dialect#Writing system|Saanich writing system]]}}
| sample      = Dax sample.png
| imagesize   = 200px
| unicode     = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf U+0000–U+007E] Basic Latin
| iso15924    = Latn
| caption     = An English-language [[pangram]] written in the [[typeface]] [[FF Dax]]
}}

[[Modern English]] is written with a [[Latin-script alphabet]] consisting of 26&nbsp;[[Letter (alphabet)|letters]], with each having both [[uppercase and lowercase]] forms. The word ''alphabet'' is a [[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] of ''[[alpha]]'' and ''[[beta]]'', the names of the first two letters in the [[Greek alphabet]]. The earliest [[Old English]] writing during the 5th century used a [[runic]] alphabet known as the [[Anglo-Saxon futhorc|futhorc]]. The [[Old English Latin alphabet]] was adopted from the 7th&nbsp;century onward—and over the following centuries, various letters entered and fell out of use. By the 16th century, the present set of 26 letters had largely stabilised:

{{Flatlist|indent=1|
* {{nwr|[[A]] a}}
* {{nwr|[[B]] b}}
* {{nwr|[[C]] c}}
* {{nwr|[[D]] d}}
* {{nwr|[[E]] e}}
* {{nwr|[[F]] f}}
* {{nwr|[[G]] g}}
* {{nwr|[[H]] h}}
* {{nwr|[[I]] i}}
* {{nwr|[[J]] j}}
* {{nwr|[[K]] k}}
* {{nwr|[[L]] l}}
* {{nwr|[[M]] m}}
* {{nwr|[[N]] n}}
* {{nwr|[[O]] o}}
* {{nwr|[[P]] p}}
* {{nwr|[[Q]] q}}
* {{nwr|[[R]] r}}
* {{nwr|[[S]] s}}
* {{nwr|[[T]] t}}
* {{nwr|[[U]] u}}
* {{nwr|[[V]] v}}
* {{nwr|[[W]] w}}
* {{nwr|[[X]] x}}
* {{nwr|[[Y]] y}}
* {{nwr|[[Z]] z}}
}}

There are 5 vowel letters (A, E, I, O, U) and 19 consonant letters—as well as 2 letters (Y and W) which may function as either type.

Written English has a large number of [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]], such as {{angbr|ch}}, {{angbr|ea}}, {{angbr|oo}}, {{angbr|sh}}, and {{angbr|th}}. [[Diacritic]]s are generally not used to write native English words, which is unusual among orthographies used to write the [[languages of Europe]].

== Letter names ==
[[File:Chart of the English alphabet from 1740 (from James Hoy, Irish Spelling-Book).png|thumb|English alphabet from 1740, with some unusual letter names.  Note the use of [[long s]].]]
{{Listen
 |filename     = Alphabet.oga
 |title        = English alphabet
 |type         = speech
 |description  = A [[Received Pronunciation]] [[British English]] speaker reciting the English alphabet
}}
The names of the letters are commonly spelled out in compound words and initialisms (e.g., ''tee-shirt, deejay, emcee, okay,'' etc.), derived forms (e.g., ''exed out,{{efn|Clicked the 🅇 box to close a tab or app}} effing,{{efn|Fucking}} to eff and blind, {{notatypo|aitchless}}'',{{efn|Without the letter H}} etc.), and objects named after letters (e.g., ''[[En Dash|en]]'' and ''[[Em dash|em]]'' in printing, and ''[[Wye (rail)|wye]]'' in railroading). The spellings listed below are from the [[Oxford English Dictionary]]. Plurals of consonant names are formed by adding ''-s'' (e.g., ''bees'', ''efs'' or ''effs'', ''ems'') or ''-es'' in the cases of ''aitches'', ''esses'', ''exes''. Plurals of vowel names also take ''-es'' (i.e., ''aes'', ''ees'', ''ies'', ''oes'', ''ues''), 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 ''-s'' or ''-'s'' (e.g. ''Cs'' or ''c's'' for ''cees'').

<!-- Note: These are the *names of the letters*, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. They are not pronunciation guides. Please don't change "cee" (the correct spelling) to "see", or "i" to "eye". -->
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! rowspan="2" scope="col" | Letter
! colspan="2" scope="colgroup" | Name
! colspan="4" scope="colgroup" | Name pronunciation
! rowspan="2" scope="col" | {{Tooltip|Freq.|Frequency}}
|-
! scope="col" | Modern<br />English<ref>''The Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition.</ref>
! scope="col" | Latin
! scope="col" | [[Help:IPA for English|Modern<br />English]]
! scope="col" | Latin
! scope="col" | Old<br />French
! scope="col" | Middle<br />English
|-
! scope="row" | [[A]]
| ''a''<!--No, not "ay" and "ai", unless you have a citation-->
| ''ā'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ}}{{efn|often in [[Hiberno-English]], due to the letter's pronunciation in the [[Irish language]]}}
| {{IPA|/aː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/aː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/aː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 8.17%
|-
! scope="row" | [[B]]
| ''bee''
| ''bē'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|iː}}
| {{IPA|/beː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/beː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/beː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 1.49%
|-
! scope="row" | [[C]]
| ''cee''<!--No, not "see", unless you have a citation-->
| ''cē'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|iː}}
| {{IPA|/keː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/tʃeː/|lang=fro}} > {{IPA|/tseː/|lang=fro}}<br />> {{IPA|/seː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/seː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 2.78%
|-
! scope="row" | [[D]]
| ''dee''
| ''dē'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|iː}}
| {{IPA|/deː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/deː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/deː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 4.25%
|-
! scope="row" | [[E]]
| ''e''<!--No, not "ee", unless you have a citation-->
| ''ē'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː}}
| {{IPA|/eː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/eː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/eː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 12.70%
|-
! scope="row" | [[F]]
| ''ef'', ''eff''
| ''ef'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|f}}
| {{IPA|/ɛf/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/ɛf/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/ɛf/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" |2.23%
|-
! scope="row" | [[G]]
| ''gee''
| ''gē'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|iː}}
| {{IPA|/ɡeː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/dʒeː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/dʒeː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 2.02%
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | [[H]]
| ''aitch''
| rowspan="2" |''hā'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ|tʃ}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/haː/|lang=la}} > {{IPA|/ˈaha/|lang=la}}<br />> {{IPA|/ˈakːa/|lang=la}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ˈaːtʃə/|lang=fro}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/aːtʃ/|lang=enm}}
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;" | 6.09%
|-
| ''haitch''{{efn|The usual form in [[Hiberno-English]] and Australian English}}|| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|eɪ|tʃ}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[I]]
| ''i''
| ''ī'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ}}
| {{IPA|/iː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/iː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/iː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 6.97%
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | [[J]]
| ''jay''
| rowspan="2" {{N/A}}
| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|eɪ}}
| rowspan="2" {{N/A}}
| rowspan="2" {{N/A}}
| rowspan="2" |{{efn|The letter J did not occur in Old French or Middle English. The Modern French name is ''ji'' {{IPA|/ʒi/|lang=fr}}, corresponding to Modern English ''jy'' (rhyming with ''i''), which in most areas was later replaced with ''jay'' (rhyming with ''kay'').}}
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;" | 0.15%
|-
| ''jy''{{efn|in [[Scottish English]]}} || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|aɪ}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[K]] 
| ''kay''
| ''kā'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|eɪ}}
| {{IPA|/kaː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/kaː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/kaː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.77%
|-
! scope="row" | [[L]]
| ''el'', ''ell''{{efn|In the US, an L-shaped object may be spelled ''ell''.}}
| ''el'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|l}}
| {{IPA|/ɛl/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/ɛl/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/ɛl/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 4.03%
|-
! scope="row" | [[M]]
| ''em''
| ''em'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|m}}
| {{IPA|/ɛm/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/ɛm/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/ɛm/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 2.41%
|-
! scope="row" | [[N]]
| ''en''
| ''en'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|n}}
| {{IPA|/ɛn/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/ɛn/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/ɛn/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 6.75%
|-
! scope="row" | [[O]]
| ''o''<!--No, not "oh", unless you have a citation-->
| ''ō'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|oʊ}}
| {{IPA|/oː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/oː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/oː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 7.51%
|-
! scope="row" | [[P]] 
| ''pee''
| ''pē'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|iː}}
| {{IPA|/peː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/peː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/peː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 1.93%
|-
! scope="row" | [[Q]]
| ''cue'', ''kew'',<br />''kue'', ''que''
| ''qū'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|j|uː}}
| {{IPA|/kuː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/kyː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/kiw/|lang=emn}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.10%
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | [[R]]
| ''ar''
| rowspan="2" | ''er'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑr}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛr/|lang=la}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛr/|lang=fro}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛr/|lang=enm}} > {{IPA|/ar/|lang=enm}}
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;" | 5.99%
|-
| ''or''{{efn|in [[Hiberno-English]]}} || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɔr}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | [[S]]
| ''ess''
| rowspan="2" | ''es'' || rowspan="2" | {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|s}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛs/|lang=la}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛs/|lang=fro}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛs/|lang=enm}}
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;" | 6.33%
|-
| ''es-''{{efn|in compounds such as ''es-hook''}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[T]]
| ''tee''
| ''tē'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|iː}}
| {{IPA|/teː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/teː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/teː/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 9.06%
|-
! scope="row" | [[U]]
| ''u''<!--No, not "you", unless you have a citation-->
| ''ū'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|j|uː}}
| {{IPA|/uː/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/yː/|lang=fro}}
| {{IPA|/iw/|lang=enm}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 2.76%
|-
! scope="row" | [[V]] 
| ''vee''
| {{N/A}}
| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|v|iː}}
| {{N/A}}
| {{N/A}}
| {{N/A}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.98%
|-
! scope="row" | [[W]]
| ''double-u''
| {{N/A}}
| {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b|əl|.|j|uː}}{{efn|Especially in American English, the {{IPA|/l/|lang=en}} is often not pronounced in informal speech. ''(Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'', 10th ed). Common colloquial pronunciations are {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b|ə|j|uː}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b|ə|j|ə}}, and {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b|j|ə}} (as in the nickname "Dubya") or just {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ʌ|b}}, especially in terms like ''www.''}}
| {{N/A}}
| {{N/A}}
| {{N/A}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 2.36%
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | [[X]]
| rowspan="2" | ''ex''
| ''ex'' || rowspan="2" | {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|k|s}}
| {{IPA|/ɛks/|lang=la}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/iks/|lang=fro}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɛks/|lang=enm}}
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:right;" | 0.15%
|-
| ''ix''
| {{IPA|/ɪks/}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="3" | [[Y]]
| rowspan="3" |''wy'', ''wye''
| rowspan="2" |''hȳ''
| rowspan="3" |{{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|aɪ}}
| {{IPA|/hyː/|lang=la}}
| rowspan="2" |''ui, gui'' ?
| rowspan="3" |{{IPA|/wiː/|lang=enm}}
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:right;" |1.97%
|-
| {{IPA|/iː/|lang=la}}
|-
| ''ī graeca''
| {{IPA|/iː ˈɡraɪka/|lang=la}}
| {{IPA|/iː ɡrɛːk/|lang=fro}}
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | [[Z]]
| ''zed''{{efn|in [[British English]], [[Hiberno-English]] and [[English in the Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth English]]}}
| rowspan="2" |''zēta'' || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|ɛ|d}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ˈzeːta/|lang=la}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/ˈzɛːdə/|lang=fro}}
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|/zɛd/|lang=enm}}
| rowspan="2"  style="text-align:right;" | 0.07%
|-
| ''zee''{{efn|in [[American English]], [[Newfoundland English]] and [[Philippine English]]}} || {{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|iː}}
|}

== Diacritics ==
{{Main|English terms with diacritical marks}}
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{{snd}} the same symbol is used for two different purposes), and cedilla (ç).<ref>{{Citation|last=Strizver|first=Ilene|title=Accents & Accented Characters|url=http://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-3/signs-and-symbols/accents|work=Fontology|publisher=Monotype Imaging|access-date=2019-06-17}}</ref> Diacritics used for [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal languages]] may be replaced with [[Tone number|tonal numbers]] or omitted.

=== Loanwords ===
[[Diacritic]] marks mainly appear in loanwords such as ''naïve'' and ''façade''. Informal English writing tends to omit diacritics because of their absence from the keyboard, while professional copywriters and typesetters tend to include them.

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 ''hôtel''. Words that are still perceived as foreign tend to retain them; for example, the only spelling of ''soupçon'' found in English dictionaries (the [[Oxford English Dictionary|OED]] 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, ''résumé'' rather than ''resume'').<ref>{{Citation |publisher=[[Modern Humanities Research Association]] |title=MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors and Editors |url=http://www.mhra.org.uk/style |year=2013 |postscript=. |at=Section 2.2 |edition=3rd |location=London |format=pdf |access-date=2019-06-17 |isbn=978-1-78188-009-8}}</ref> Rarely, they may even be added to a loanword for this reason (as in ''maté'', from Spanish ''[[yerba mate]]'' but following the pattern of ''café'', from French, to distinguish from ''mate'').

=== Native English words ===
Occasionally, especially in older writing, diacritics are used to indicate the [[syllable]]s of a word: ''cursed'' (verb) is pronounced with one syllable, while ''cursèd'' ([[adjective]]) is pronounced with two. For this, ''è'' is used widely in poetry.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/how-to-use-and-understand-diacritics-diacritical-marks |title=A Guide to Deciphering Diacritics |publisher=Merriam-Webster}}</ref>
 
Similarly, while in ''chicken coop'' the letters ''-oo-'' represent a single vowel sound (a [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]), occasionally they may coincide at the junction of two distinct  syllables, as in ''zoölogist'' and ''coöperation''. This use of the [[Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]] is rare but found in some well-known publications, such as ''[[MIT Technology Review]]'' and ''[[The New Yorker]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis |date=2012-04-26 |first=Mary |last=Norris |title=The Curse of the Diaeresis |magazine=The New Yorker |quote=The special tool we use here at The New Yorker for punching out the two dots that we then center carefully over the second vowel in such words as “naïve” and “Laocoön” will be getting a workout this year, as the Democrats coöperate to reëlect the President. |access-date=2021-08-07}}</ref> In British English this usage has been considered obsolete for many years and, although it persisted for longer in US English, it is now considered archaic as well.<ref name="Shaw-1993">{{cite book |isbn=0-06-461045-4 |first=Harry |last=Shaw |date=1993 |edition=second |title=Punctuate It Right! |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/punctuateitright00shaw_0/page/38 |page=38 |chapter=''Accent Marks'': Dieresis |quote="...it is much less used than formerly, having been largely replaced by the hyphen..."}}</ref> Some publications, particularly in UK usage, have replaced the diaeresis with a hyphen, such as in ''co-operative''.<ref name="Shaw-1993" />

== Punctuation marks within words ==

=== Apostrophe ===
The [[apostrophe]] ({{char|'}}, {{serif|{{char|’}}}}) 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" and to mark [[Contraction (grammar)|contracted]] words.{{efn|Linguistic analyses vary on how best to characterise the English possessive morpheme. See article [[apostrophe]] for details.}} 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. (Grammatical rules and 'best practice' vary by time and place, as described comprehensively at the [[apostrophe]] article.)

In a ''[[Chronicle of Higher Education]]'' blog, [[Geoffrey Pullum]] argued that apostrophe is the 27th letter of the alphabet, arguing that it does not function as a form of [[punctuation]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pullum |first= Geoffrey K.|title=Being an apostrophe |journal =Lingua Franca |date=March 22, 2013 |publisher=[[Chronicle of Higher Education]] |url=https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/03/21/being-an-apostrophe/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013205712/https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/03/21/being-an-apostrophe/ |archive-date= Oct 13, 2023 }}</ref>

=== Hyphen ===
[[Hyphen]]s are often used in English [[Compound (linguistics)|compound words]]. Written compound words may be hyphenated, open or closed, so specifics are guided by [[Style guide|stylistic policy]].

== Frequencies ==
{{Main|Letter frequency}}
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.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cipher Systems: The Protection of Communications|last1=Beker|first1=Henry|last2=Piper|first2=Fred|publisher=[[Wiley-Interscience]]|year=1982|page=397}} Table also available from
{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CyCcRAm7eQMC&pg=PA36|title=Cryptological Mathematics|last=Lewand|first=Robert|publisher=[[Mathematical Association of America]]|year=2000|isbn=978-0883857199|page=36}} and {{cite web|url=http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html|title=English letter frequencies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708193159/http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html|archive-date=2008-07-08|url-status=dead|access-date=2008-06-25}}</ref>

== Phonology ==
{{Main|English phonology}}

The letters A, E, I, O, and U are considered vowel letters, since (except when silent) they represent [[vowel]]s, although I and U represent consonants in words such as "onion" and "quail" respectively.

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 [[Welsh language|Welsh]] loanword).

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 [[semivowel|semi-vowels]] (or ''glides'') by linguists; however, this is a description that applies to the ''sounds'' represented by the letters and not to the letters themselves.

The remaining letters are considered consonant letters, since when not silent they generally represent [[consonant]]s.

== History ==
{{See also|History of the Latin alphabet|English orthography}}

===Old English===
{{Main|Old English|Old English Latin alphabet}}

The [[English language]] itself was initially written in the [[Anglo-Saxon runes|Anglo-Saxon futhorc]] 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 Anglo-Saxon settlers. Very few examples of this form of written [[Old English]] have survived, mostly as short inscriptions or fragments.

The [[Latin script]], introduced by Christian missionaries, began to replace the Anglo-Saxon futhorc from about the 7th&nbsp;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.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Early Medieval Europe |last=Shaw |first=Phillip |date=May 2013 |title=Adapting the Roman alphabet for Writing Old English: Evidence from Coin Epigraphy and Single-Sheet Characters |volume= 21 |issue=2 |pages=115–139|via=Ebscohost |doi=10.1111/emed.12012 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |s2cid=163075636 |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/emed.12012|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Futhorc influenced the emerging English alphabet by providing it with the letters ''[[thorn (letter)|thorn]]'' (Þ þ) and ''[[wynn]]'' (Ƿ ƿ). The letter ''[[eth]]'' (Ð ð) was later devised as a modification of ''[[d]]ee'' (D d), and finally ''[[yogh]]'' ({{lang|ang|Ȝ}} {{lang|ang|ȝ}}) was created by Norman scribes from the [[insular G|insular ''g'']] in Old English and [[Irish language|Irish]], and used alongside their [[Carolingian g|Carolingian ''g'']].

The a-e [[Ligature (writing)|ligature]] ''[[æ|ash]]'' (Æ æ) was adopted as a letter in its own right, named after a futhorc rune ''[[Ansuz (rune)|æsc]]''. In very early Old English the o-e ligature ''[[œ|ethel]]'' (Œ œ) also appeared as a distinct letter, likewise named after a rune, ''[[odal (rune)|œðel]]''.{{citation_needed|date=March 2014}} Additionally, the v–v or u-u ligature ''[[double-u]]'' (W w) was in use.

In the year&nbsp;1011, a monk named [[Byrhtferth|Byrhtferð]] recorded the traditional order of the Old English alphabet.<ref name="Evertype">Michael Everson, Evertype, Baldur Sigurðsson, Íslensk Málstöð, ''[http://www.evertype.com/standards/wynnyogh/thorn.html On the Status of the Latin Letter Þorn and of its Sorting Order]''</ref> He listed the 23&nbsp;letters of the Latin alphabet first, plus the [[ampersand]], then 5 additional English letters, starting with the [[Tironian notes|Tironian note]] symbol, ''ond'' ({{char|⁊}}, the insular abbreviation for the word  ''and''):

{{Block indent
|1={{big|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 [[English orthography|orthography]] of [[Modern English]], the letters [[Thorn (letter)|thorn]] (þ), [[eth]] (ð), [[wynn]] (ƿ), [[yogh]] ({{lang|ang|ȝ}}), [[æ|ash]] (æ), and [[Ethel (letter)|ethel]] (œ) are obsolete. [[Latin]] borrowings reintroduced homographs of æ and œ into [[Middle English]] and [[Early Modern English]], 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 [[typographic ligature|ligatures]]. Thorn and eth were both replaced by ''[[th (digraph)|th]]'', though thorn continued in existence for some time, its lowercase form gradually becoming graphically indistinguishable from the [[Lower case|minuscule]] [[y]] in most handwriting. ''Y'' for ''[[Th (digraph)|th]]'' can still be seen in [[pseudo-archaisms]] such as "[[Ye Olde]] Booke Shoppe". The letters þ and ð are still used in present-day [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] (where they now represent two separate sounds, {{IPA|/θ/}} and {{IPA|/ð/}} having become phonemically-distinct – as indeed also happened in Modern English), while ð is still used in present-day [[Faroese language|Faroese]] (although only as a silent letter). 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&nbsp;century and was typically replaced by ''gh''.

The letters ''[[u]]'' and ''[[j]]'', as distinct from ''[[v]]'' and ''[[i]]'', were introduced in the 16th&nbsp;century, and ''w'' assumed the status of an independent letter. The variant lowercase form [[long s]] (ſ) lasted into [[Early Modern English|early modern English]], and was used in non-final position up to the early 19th&nbsp;century. Today, the English alphabet is considered to consist of the following 26&nbsp;letters:

{{flatlist | indent=1 |
* {{Nowrap|[[A]] a}}
* {{Nowrap|[[B]] b}}
* {{Nowrap|[[C]] c}}
* {{Nowrap|[[D]] d}}
* {{Nowrap|[[E]] e}}
* {{Nowrap|[[F]] f}}
* {{Nowrap|[[G]] g}}
* {{Nowrap|[[H]] h}}
* {{Nowrap|[[I]] i}}
* {{Nowrap|[[J]] j}}
* {{Nowrap|[[K]] k}}
* {{Nowrap|[[L]] l}}
* {{Nowrap|[[M]] m}}
* {{Nowrap|[[N]] n}}
* {{Nowrap|[[O]] o}}
* {{Nowrap|[[P]] p}}
* {{Nowrap|[[Q]] q}}
* {{Nowrap|[[R]] r}}
* {{Nowrap|[[S]] s}}
* {{Nowrap|[[T]] t}}
* {{Nowrap|[[U]] u}}
* {{Nowrap|[[V]] v}}
* {{Nowrap|[[W]] w}}
* {{Nowrap|[[X]] x}}
* {{Nowrap|[[Y]] y}}
* {{Nowrap|[[Z]] z}}
}}

Written English has a number of [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.phonicsontheweb.com/digraphs.php|title=Digraphs (Phonics on the Web)|website=phonicsontheweb.com|access-date=2016-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413162011/http://www.phonicsontheweb.com/digraphs.php|archive-date=2016-04-13|url-status=dead}}</ref> but they are not considered separate letters of the alphabet:

{{flatlist|indent=1|* ch (usually /t͡ʃ/)
* ck (/k/)
* gh (/f/, /g/ or /∅/)
* ng (/[[voiced velar nasal|ŋ]]/)
* ph (/f/)
* qu (/kw/)
* sh (/ʃ/)
* th (/θ/ or /ð/)
* wh (/ʍ/ or /w/)
* zh (/ʒ/)}}

=== Ligatures in recent usage ===
[[File:Caslon Pro Ligatures.svg|thumb|The [[Ligature (writing)|ligatures]] of [[Caslon|Adobe Caslon Pro]]]]
Outside of professional papers on specific subjects that traditionally use ligatures in [[loanword]]s, ligatures are seldom used in modern English. The ligatures ''[[æ]]'' and ''[[œ]]'' were until the 19th&nbsp;century (slightly later in American English){{citation needed|date=December 2014}} used in formal writing for certain words of Greek or Latin origin, such as ''[[encyclopedia|encyclopædia]]'' and ''[[Coelom|cœlom]]'', 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,{{citation needed|date=December 2014}} although in American English, a lone ''e'' has mostly supplanted both (for example, ''encyclopedia'' for ''encyclopaedia'', and ''maneuver'' for ''manoeuvre'').

Some [[typeface]]s used to typeset English texts contain commonly used ligatures, such as for {{angle bracket|tt}}, {{angle bracket|fi}}, {{angle bracket|fl}}, {{angle bracket|ffi}}, and {{angle bracket|ffl}}. These are not independent letters{{snd}}although in traditional [[typesetting]], each of these ligatures would have its own [[sort (typesetting)|sort]] (type element) for practical reasons{{snd}} but simply [[type design]] choices created to optimize the legibility of the text.

==Proposed reforms==
{{Main article|List of language reforms of English}}
There have been a number of proposals to [[English-language spelling reform#Extending or replacing the basic English alphabet|extend or replace the basic English alphabet]]. These include proposals for the addition of letters to the English alphabet, such as ''[[Eng (letter)|eng]]'' or ''engma'' (Ŋ ŋ), used to replace the digraph "[[Ng (digraph)|ng]]" and represent the [[voiced velar nasal]] sound with a single letter. [[Benjamin Franklin's phonetic alphabet]], 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 [[Deseret alphabet]] and the [[Shavian alphabet]].

==See also==
* {{Annotated link |Alphabet song}}
* {{Annotated link |NATO phonetic alphabet}}
* {{Annotated link |English orthography}}
* {{Annotated link |English-language spelling reform}}
* {{Annotated link |American manual alphabet}}
* {{Annotated link |Two-handed manual alphabets}}
* {{Annotated link |English Braille}}
* {{Annotated link |American Braille |prefer=wikidata<!-- Use Wikidata description instead of SD because the latter is in American English, which conflicts with this article, which is in British English; see MOS:ARTCON --> |desc_first_letter_case=upper}}
* {{Annotated link |New York Point}}
* {{Annotated link |Chinese respelling of the English alphabet}}
* {{Annotated link |Burmese respelling of the English alphabet}}
* {{Annotated link |Base36}}
*{{anli|Initial teaching alphabet}}

==Notes and references==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

===Further reading===
* {{cite book| title=Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story| author=Michael Rosen |isbn=978-1619027022| year=2015 | publisher=Counterpoint }}
* {{Citation |last1=Upward |first1=Christopher |last2=Davidson |first2=George |title=The History of English Spelling |date=2011 |location=Oxford |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |author-link1=Christopher Upward |isbn=978-1-4051-9024-4 |lccn=2011008794 |postscript=.}}

{{Description of English}}
{{Language orthographies}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:English Alphabet}}
[[Category:Alphabets]]
[[Category:English orthography|Alphabet]]
[[Category:Latin alphabets]]