Classroom Pronunciation Reductions Grammar Conversation Reading Listening Vocabulary Activities Videos
Idioms Slang Acronyms Phonics Portmanteau Words Handwriting Alphabet Surveys Tests
Holidays Movies Everyday Environment Learning News Places Flashcards Study Literacy
World America History Drive Education Teaching Dictionary Resources About Contact
 
 
 
Alphabet written in old English.
Alphabet

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 with no diacritics, diagraphs, and special characters. 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.
Letter names

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.
Phonology

The letters A, E, I, O, and U are considered vowel letters, since (except when silent) they represent vowels, 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 loanword.

The consonant sounds represented by the letters W and Y in English (/w/ and /j/ as in yes /jɛs/ and went /wɛnt/) are referred to as 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 consonants.
Old English

The English language itself was first written in the 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.
Kiddle: Alphabet
Wikipedia: English alphabet
 
 
 
 
Search Fun Easy English
 
 
 
 
About    Contact    Copyright    Resources    Site Map