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 Latin script. Since then, letters have been added or removed to give the current Modern English alphabet of 26 letters. The word alphabet is a compound of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta.
A aB bC cD dE eF fG gH hI iJ jK kL lM mN nO oP pQ qR rS sT tU uV vW wX xY yZ z
The exact shape of printed letters varies depending on the typeface (and font), and the standard printed form may differ significantly from the shape of handwritten letters (which varies between individuals), and cursive especially.
Written English has a large number of digraphs. It stands out almost uniquely as a European language without diacritics in native words. A diaeresis may be used to distinguish two vowels with separate pronunciation, such as "coöperation",[nb from a double vowel. Very occasionally, a grave accent may be used to indicate that a normally silent vowel is pronounced (as in learnèd, an adjective).
The names of the letters are sometimes 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 plural just adds -s.
The English alphabet consists of 26 letters. Each letter has an uppercase ("capital letter") and a lowercase ("small letter") form.
| # | Capital Letter | Small Letter | Phonic (pronunciation) | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | a | /eɪ/, /æ/ | a |
| 2 | B | b | /biː/ | bee |
| 3 | C | c | /siː/ | cee |
| 4 | D | d | /diː/ | dee |
| 5 | E | e | /iː/ | e |
| 6 | F | f | /ɛf/ | ef |
| 7 | G | g | /dʒiː/ | gee |
| 8 | H | h | /(h)eɪtʃ/ | (h)aitch |
| 9 | I | i | /aɪ/ | i |
| 10 | J | j | /dʒeɪ/ | jay |
| 11 | K | k | /keɪ/ | kay |
| 12 | L | l | /ɛl/ | el |
| 13 | M | m | /ɛm/ | em |
| 14 | N | n | /ɛn/ | en |
| 15 | O | o | /oʊ/ | o |
| 16 | P | p | /piː/ | pee |
| 17 | Q | q | /kjuː/ | cue |
| 18 | R | r | /ɑːr/ | ar |
| 19 | S | s | /ɛs/ | ess |
| 20 | T | t | /tiː/ | tee |
| 21 | U | u | /juː/ | u |
| 22 | V | v | /viː/ | vee |
| 23 | W | w | /ˈdʌbəl.juː/ | double-u |
| 24 | X | x | /ɛks/ | ex |
| 25 | Y | y | /waɪ/ | wy |
| 26 | Z | z | /zi/zɛd/ | zee/zed |