nu

en-noun

nu (countable and uncountable, plural nus)

From Ancient Greek νῦ (nû), name for the letter of the Greek alphabet Ν (N) and ν (n).

The letter of the Greek alphabet Ν (N) and ν (n).

نُو

name for the letter of the Greek alphabet: Ν and ν


te

unspecified script
Appendix:unspecified script#English

The name of the unspecified script letter Т / т.


de

Cyrillic script
Appendix:Cyrillic script#English

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Д / д.


be

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Б / б.


en

The name of the letter comes from Latin en. The typographic sense dates to 1793.

The ems and ens at the beginnings and ends.

The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus, el ee en gee tee aitch.

1773 October, The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged:

I have drunk en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar from the ef-ell-oh-doubleyou-ee-ar-ess in his gee-ay-ar-dee-ee-en many a time.

2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170:

The name of the Latin-script letter N/n.


en

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Н / н.


el

From Middle English, from Old English el, from Latin el (the name of the letter L).

The name of the Latin-script letter L/l.


el

The name of the unspecified script letter Л / л.


i

the position of an i-dot (the dot of an i)

i-mutation, i-umlaut

The name of the Latin-script letter I/i.


pi

pi (countable and uncountable, plural pis)

From Ancient Greek πεῖ (peî), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *pay- (“mouth”). Doublet of pe. Its mathematical use apparently stems from its use as the first letter in περιφέρεια (periphéreia, “periphery; circumference”) and was first cited in 1706 in the Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos by William Jones.

The 16th letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets and the seventeenth in Old Greek.


o

The name of the Latin-script letter O/o.


see

see, ar, eye, ee, ess, cries

1881 April, J. B. Rundell, “The Irregularities of English Spelling: what they Cost and what they are Worth”, in The Spelling Reformer, and Journal of the English Spelling Reform Association, volume I, number 10, London, page 147:

They were still shocked if you said “eff you see kay” out loud, though it didn’t stop any of them from doing it.

1984, Eva Holmquist, No Certain Time, Libra Publishers, →ISBN, page 17:

eff you see kay why oh you.

1996, Sycamore Review, volume 8, page 116:

I hear you. But hear me out, all right? Because I mean what I’m about to say. Eff-you-see-kay-why-oh-you. Fuck you.

2009, Eric Barnes, Shimmer, Denver, Colo.: Unbridled Books, →ISBN, page 91:

Her mother said, “Maybe you can have ‘Muck Donnas’, or we could have fish and chips.” Krissy shook her head, “Nah. We no have fwishenchit. We have Kay Eff See nuggers?”

2020, Paul Richardson, Taylah’s Got Talent, →ISBN:

Same old answer: the eff-you-see-kay-you-pee.

2023, Callum McSorley, chapter 15, in Squeaky Clean, Pushkin Press, →ISBN:

Alternative form of cee; the name of the Latin-script letter C/c.


bee

From Middle English [Term?], from Old English be, from Latin be (the name of the letter B).

"The ee-vee-ee-ar-en-oh-ee-ell-blank-bee-ell-oh-ess-ess-oh-em-blank-en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar is especially dee-ee-ell-eye-cee-eye-oh-you-ess." Our friends thanked the spelling bee for his help and then he buzzed off.

The name of the Latin-script letter B/b.


an

The first letter of the Georgian alphabet, ა (Mkhedruli), Ⴀ (Asomtavruli) or ⴀ (Nuskhuri).


you

‘Eff. You. En,’ said Mr Banstead. ‘Fun![…]’

1969, Michael Feld, The Sabbatical Year, London: Alan Ross Ltd, page 301:

It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh."

‘S-S-C…sitting on a tree…eff-you-cee-kay-i-en-ji.’

2019, Anand Ranganathan, Chitra Subramaniam, The Rat Eater, Bloomsbury India, →ISBN:

The name of the Latin-script letter U/u.


lam

From Arabic لَام (lām), the name of the letter ل (l).

The twenty-third letter of the Arabic alphabet, ل (l). It is preceded by ك (k) and followed by م (m).


he

Transliteration of various Semitic letters, such as Phoenician 𐤄 (h), Hebrew ה (h), Classical Syriac ܗ (h, “hē”), and Old South Arabian 𐩠 (h).

The name of the first letter of the Old South Arabian abjad.


eye

IED [is spoken] as "eye-ee-dee" instead of "I SPELL India Echo Delta Romeo".

2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), pages 3–5


ye

The Cyrillic letter Е, е, featured in various Slavic and Turkic languages.


er

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Р / р.


why

ee, why, ee, ess, eyes

eff you see kay why oh you.

Like many folks do when taking medicine past its expiration date, Jerry had questioned its effectiveness. The pill had answered with a resounding why ee ess, and Jerry couldn’t tell between the Custom Costume in his pocket and himself.

2016, Daniel DiPrinzio, “Come Quickly”, in The Great Stone Robbery or A Parade of Idiots, →ISBN, page 184:

Miss said, “Love your outfit, bee-tee-double-u.” It took me a second to realize she meant “btw.” “Is it vintage?” / I looked down at my school uniform. Fudgsicles. “Tee-why,” said Jahna, for “ty.” “And why-ee-ess yes!”

2016, Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily, Electric Monkey, →ISBN, page 73:

Alternative form of wye; the name of the Latin-script letter Y/y.


jay

Respelling of the letter jy (which see), by analogy with the following letter kay.

The name of the Latin-script letter J/j.


ash

ash (countable and uncountable, plural ashes)

From Middle English asshe, from Old English æsċ, from Proto-Germanic *askaz, *askiz (compare West Frisian esk, Dutch es, German Esche, Danish/Norwegian/Swedish ask), from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃s- (compare Welsh onnen, Latin ornus (“wild mountain ash”), Lithuanian úosis, Russian я́сень (jásenʹ), Albanian ah (“beech”), Ancient Greek ὀξύα (oxúa, “beech”), Old Armenian հացի (hacʻi)).

Alternative forms: æsc, æsh

The traditional name for the ae ligature (æ), as used in Old English.


san

From Ancient Greek σάν (sán), from Semitic.

A letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet (uppercase Ϻ, lowercase ϻ) that came after pi and before qoppa.


u

From Middle English lower case letter v (also written u), from Old English lower case u, from 7th century replacement by lower case u of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚢ (u, ur), derived from Raetic letter u.
Before the 1700s, the pointed form v was written at the beginning of a word, while a rounded form u was used elsewhere, regardless of sound. So whereas valor and excuse appeared as in modern printing, have and upon were printed haue and vpon. Eventually, in the 1700s, to differentiate between the consonant and vowel sounds, the v form was used to represent the consonant, and u the vowel sound. v then preceded u in the alphabet, but the order has since reversed.


e

The letter name is ultimately from Latin ē. Use of the Latin letter in (Old) English displaced, in whole or in part, five futhorc letters in the 7th century: ᛖ (e), ᚫ (æ), ᛠ (ea), ᛇ (eo), and ᛟ (œ).

The name of the Latin-script letter E/e.


eng

Probably created in analogy with other names for nasal consonants em (m) and en (n).

Roman alphabet ŋ: The Latin-based letter formed by combining the letters n and g, used in the IPA, Saami, Mende, and some Australian aboriginal languages. In the IPA, it represents the voiced velar nasal, the ng sound in running and rink. .


oh

From Middle English o, oo, from Old English ō, from Latin ō.

One genuine recycled local glass of aitch-two-oh

Exes and Ohs: A Downtown Girl's (Mostly Awkward) Tales of Love, Lust, Revenge, and a Little Facebook Stalking

2011, Shallon Lester, (Please provide the book title or journal name):


alpha

alpha (countable and uncountable, plural alphas)

From the Ancient Greek ἄλφα (álpha), the first letter of the Greek alphabet, from the Phoenician 𐤀 (ʾ, “aleph”). Doublet of alif and aleph.

The name of the first letter of the Greek alphabet (Α, α), followed by beta. In the Latin alphabet it is the predecessor to A.


gamma

gamma (countable and uncountable, plural gammas)

Borrowed from Ancient Greek γάμμα (gámma). Doublet of gimel.

The third letter of the Greek alphabet (Γ, γ), preceded by beta (Β, β) and followed by delta, (Δ, δ).


theta

→ Malay: teta

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θῆτα (thêta).

The eighth letter of the Modern Greek alphabet, ninth in Old Greek: Θ, θ.


epsilon

epsilon (countable and uncountable, plural epsilons or epsila)

From Ancient Greek ἒ ψιλόν (è psilón, “simple Ε”).

uder

The name for the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, ε or Ε, preceded by delta (Δ, δ) and followed by zeta (Ζ, ζ).


digamma

From di- + gamma, from its shape resembling two stacked capital gammas (Γ).

Letter of the Archaic Greek alphabet: Ϝ, ϝ


iota

From Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *yad- (“hand”). Doublet of yodh.
* (jot): In reference to a phrase in the New Testament: "until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law" (Mt 5:18), iota being the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet.

As a Greek numeral, iota represents ten.

There are twelve iotas on that page.


beta

en-noun

beta (countable and uncountable, plural betas)

From Ancient Greek βῆτα (bêta). Doublet of beth.

The second letter of the Greek alphabet (Β, β), preceded by alpha (Α, α) and followed by gamma, (Γ, γ). In modern Greek it represents the voiced labiodental fricative sound of v found in the English words have and vase.


zeta

From the Ancient Greek ζῆτα (zêta). Doublet of zed.

The sixth letter of the modern Greek alphabet (Ζ (Z), ζ (z)) preceded by epsilon (Ε (E), ε (e)) and followed by eta, (Η (I), η (i)); or the seventh letter in the ancient Greek alphabet, in which it is preceded by digamma (Ϝ (W), ϝ (w))

زِيتَا

Sixth letter of the modern Greek alphabet (Ζ, ζ)

зе́та

Seventh letter of the ancient Greek alphabet


eta

Greek was an exercise in making the familiar strange. Its alphabet mapped onto the Roman alphabet, but only partly so, and often letters did not sound how they looked — a rho (Ρ) was not a P, and an eta (Η) was not an H.

2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel, HarperVoyager, page 25:

The seventh letter of the Modern Greek alphabet, the eighth in Old Greek.


lambda

From Ancient Greek λάμβδα (lámbda). Doublet of lamed.

The eleventh letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabet, the twelfth of the Old Greek alphabet.


xi

The 14th letter of Classical and Modern Greek. The 15th in Ancient and Old Greek.


delta

From Ancient Greek δέλτα (délta), borrowed from a Phoenician word for "door", ultimately from Proto-Semitic *dalt-. Doublet of dalet.
* (river): from the triangular shape of the majuscule Greek letter delta Δ
* (USSF): from the delta wing, symbol of the USSF, a triangular wing, shaped like the majuscule Greek letter delta Δ

The fourth letter of the modern Greek alphabet Δ, δ.

This will slow the main code path down, but only by delta.

(computing, informal) A small but noticeable effect. Compare epsilon.


kappa

kappa (countable and uncountable, plural kappas)

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κάππα (káppa), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *kapp- (“palm, hand”). Doublet of kaph.


mu

en-noun

mu (countable and uncountable, plural mus)

From Ancient Greek μῦ (mû), derived from Phoenician 𐤌𐤌 (mm /mem/, “water”). Doublet of mem.

The 12th letter of the Modern Greek alphabet.


em

Attested since 1808. In typography, the em is named after the em quadrat (later called em quad), from m quadrat, a metal type used in letterpress typesetting, which is as wide as the point size of the font.

The ems and ens at the beginnings and ends.

The name of the Latin-script letter M/m.


em

The name of the unspecified script letter М / м.


ge

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Г / г.


omicron

/əʊˈmaɪkɹɒn/

/əʊˈmaɪkɹən/

/ˈoʊməˌkɹɑn/

/ˈoʊmɪˌkɹɑn/

Johann Bayer
Uranometria
en:omicron (disambiguation)

From Latin omicron, from Koine Greek ὂ μῑκρόν (ò mīkrón, “little o”), named in contrast with omega (“big o”). The uncommon form omicra is similarly borrowed from Latin and Greek. The use for designating stars in a constellation—typically in order of apparent brightness—began with Johann Bayer's 1603 Uranometria.

der

Your Majestie knows that unfortunate I [...] was the first who when I published my Poem of Italia Liberata endeavoured to bring the Omicron, Eupselon, Omega, and other Greek Letters, which I thought very requisite for that language, into my own Tongue;

1656 [1612], Henry, Earl of Monmouth, transl., I Raggvagli di Parnasso: or Advertisements from Parnassus, London: Humphrey Moseley, translation of De Ragguagli di Parnaso by Traiano Boccalini, page 180:

The E serves both for the Epsilon and Eta; the O, both for the Omicron and Omega, and likewise for the dipthong OΥ.

1750 [1748 January 10], James Russel, “Letter LI”, in Letters from a Young Painter Abroad to his Friends in England, volume II, London: W. Russel, page 120:

... They include Mira itself (omicron Ceti) which can be seen shortly before dawn.

There are now seven “variants of interest” or “variants of concern” and they each have a Greek letter, according to a W.H.O. tracking page. Some other variants with Greek letters do not reach those classification levels, and the W.H.O. also skipped two letters just before Omicron — “Nu” and “Xi” — leading to speculation about whether “Xi” was avoided in deference to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

2021 November 27, Vimal Patel, "How Omicron, the New Covid-19 Variant, Got Its Name", New York Times

(sometimes capitalized) The 15th letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets (16th in Ancient and Old Greek), used in ordering lists as in naming (astronomy) the 15th star of a constellation or (epidemiology) the 15th discovered major variant of a disease.


rho

From the name of the Ancient Greek letter ῥῶ (rhô).

Greek was an exercise in making the familiar strange. Its alphabet mapped onto the Roman alphabet, but only partly so, and often letters did not sound how they looked – a rho (Ρ) was not a P, and an eta (Η) was not an H.

The seventeenth letter of the Modern Greek and Classical alphabets and the nineteenth letter of Old and Ancient.


omega

From Middle English, from Ancient Greek ὦ μέγα (ô méga), meaning “great ω” (omega is a long vowel in Ancient Greek).

The fact that the letter was incised above the line indicates that it is probably an omega.

2013, Albert Schachter, Fabienne Marchand, “Fresh Light on the Institutions and Religious Life of Thespiai: Sixe New Inscriptions from the Thespiai Survey”, in Paraskevi Martzavou, Nikolaos Papazarkadas, editors, Epigraphical Approaches to the Post-Classical, Polis, page 284:

The twenty-fourth letter of the Classical and the Modern Greek alphabet, and the twenty-eighth letter of the Old and the Ancient Greek alphabet, i.e. the last letter of every Greek alphabet. Uppercase version: Ω; lowercase: ω.


pe

From Hebrew פֵּא (pê), from Proto-Semitic *pay- (“mouth”). Doublet of pi.

The seventeenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew פ, Syriac ܦ, and others; Arabic has the analog faa).


pe

The name of the Cyrillic script letter П / п.


ar

→ Malay: ar

→ Tagalog: ar

From Middle English *ar, arres pl, from earlier *er.

All the ars in the inscription.

I have drunk en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar from the ef-ell-oh-doubleyou-ee-ar-ess in his gee-ay-ar-dee-ee-en many a time.

2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170:

RV [is spoken] as "ar-vee" instead of "I SPELL Romeo Victor".

2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), p. 3-5

The name of the Latin-script letter R/r.


upsilon

From Ancient Greek ὖ ψιλόν (û psilón, “simple Υ”).

uder

The twentieth letter of Classical and Modern Greek; the twenty-second letter of Old and Ancient Greek.


sigma

From Ancient Greek σῖγμα (sîgma), σίγμα (sígma), probably from the root sig- as seen in σίζω (sízō) (< sig-yo "to hiss") + -μα (-ma).

Their names, which are expressive of some bodily or mental excellence, all end with the same letter---the letter which is called San by the Dorians, and Sigma by the Ionians.

"Herodotus: On The Customs of the Persians", I.139

The eighteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets (Σ, σ), the twentieth letter of Old and Ancient.


phi

From Late Latin phi, from Ancient Greek φεῖ (pheî).

Φ, the 21st letter of the Euclidean and modern Greek alphabet, usually romanized as "ph".


psi

en-noun

psi (countable and uncountable, plural psis)

From Ancient Greek ψεῖ (pseî), the name for the twenty-third letter of the alphabet (Ψ, ψ).

(countable) The twenty-third letter of Classical and Modern Greek and the twenty-fifth letter of Old and Ancient Greek.


es

Alternative form of ess (the name of the Latin-script letter S/s) in compounds such as "es-hook".


es

The name of the Cyrillic script letter С / с.


tau

Hospital Brothers of Saint Anthony
Trần Thanh Vân

From Middle English tau, taue, from Latin tau, from Ancient Greek ταῦ (taû) and Hebrew תָּו (tav).
Sense 6 (“mathematical constant equal to 2π”) was used by Joseph M. Lindenberg in 1991, and popularized by the American educator and entrepreneur Michael Hartl in a 2010 paper which explains that τ resembles π; and that τ is the Greek equivalent of t, the first letter of turn, and 2π corresponds to one turn of a circle with a radius of one unit.
Sense 8.1 (“short for tau lepton or tau particle”) was coined by the American physicist Martin Lewis Perl (1927–2014) after the first letter of Ancient Greek τρίτον (tríton, “third”), since the tau lepton or tauon was the third charged lepton discovered.

sequence box

Ancient Greek Alphabet

<big>Τ τ </big>
Ancient Greek: ταῦ

croix en tau

Saint Anthony’s cross — see also Saint Anthony's cross

The letter Τ／τ in the Greek alphabet; being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, and the twenty-first letter of the Old and Ancient Greek alphabets.


chi

From Latin chī, from Ancient Greek χεῖ (kheî).

The twenty-second letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets.


ex

Thus first C checks to see if ex and wye are equal. The resulting value of 1 or 0 (true or false) then is compared to the value of zee.

1984 Waite, Prata & Martin, C (Computer Program Language), p. 190

The name of the Latin-script letter X/x.


ee

The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus, el ee en gee tee aitch.

1773 October, The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged:

ETA [is spoken] as "ee-tee-ay" instead of "I SPELL Echo Tango Alfa".

The name of the Latin-script letter E/e.


eth

The sound /ɛ/ followed by the sound of the letter, by analogy with other letter names, such as those of f, l, and m.

In Old English manuscripts thorn and eth did not have different phonetic values but were used positionally[.]

1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 175:

A letter (capital Ð, small ð) introduced into Old English to represent its dental fricative, then not distinguished from the letter thorn, no longer used in English but still in modern use in Icelandic, the IPA and other phonetic alphabets to represent the voiced dental fricative "th" sound as in the English word then. The letter is also used in Faroese, but is generally silent in that language.


jy

jies (plural)
jyes (plural)
jys (plural)

From the name of the letter i (of which j was originally a variant) by affixing the /d͡ʒ/ sound to it. Compare French ji, and the similar derivation of Italian vu.
Generally changed to jay by association with kay.

(archaic or dialectal, Scotland) The name of the Latin-script letter J/j.


yogh

From Middle English ȝogh, ȝ, of unknown origin. Several etymologies have been advanced, such as derivation from Middle English yok (“yoke”) or Old English ēoh (“rune ᛇ”), but all pose serious phonological problems.

A letter of the Middle English alphabet (capital Ȝ, small ȝ), in form derived from the Old English shape of the letter g, and used to represent various palatal and velar sounds.


wynn

From Middle English wynne, winne, wenne, wunne, wyn, from Old English wynn (“joy, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunnju, from Proto-Germanic *wunjō, from Proto-Indo-European *wn̥h₁yeh₂, from *wenh₁- (“desire, wish, love”).

The Norman scribes gradually replaced wynn by u, uu, vv, and w itself.

A letter of the Old English alphabet, ƿ, borrowed from the futhark and used to represent the sound of w; replaced in Middle English times by the digraph uu, which later developed into the letter w.


schwa

Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark mostly indicating absence of a vowel sound)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence. Doublet of shva.

der

The participle has also, owing to the accent, the lightest possible forms; but here there was no reduplication, and so in class I. the "schwa" took the form e before single mutes or fricatives, and elsewhere o.

1882, B. W. Wells, “The Ablaut in English”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, page 67:

However, word-final unstressed schwa is deleted even by the speakers from South Albania, though to different degrees and dependant on the speech style[…]

2006 April 27, Sylvia Moosmüller, Theodor Granser, “The spread of Standard Albanian: An illustration based on an analysis of vowels”, in Language Variation and Change, volume 18, number 2, Cambridge University Press, →DOI:

(phonetics) An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.


schwa

en-verb

schwa (third-person singular simple present schwas, present participle schwaing, simple past and past participle schwaed)

schwas (present singular third-person)
schwaing (participle present)
schwaed (participle past)
schwaed (past)

(phonetics, of a vowel sound, rare) To be reduced to schwa.


thorn

From Middle English thorn, þorn, from Old English þorn, from Proto-West Germanic *þorn, from Proto-Germanic *þurnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥nós, from *(s)ter- (“stiff”).
cognates
Near cognates include West Frisian toarn, Low German Doorn, Dutch doorn, German Dorn, Danish and Norwegian torn, Swedish torn, törne, Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽𐌿𐍃 (þaurnus). Further cognates include Old Church Slavonic трънъ (trŭnŭ, “thorn”), Russian тёрн (tjorn), Polish cierń, Kamkata-viri taňi, tai (“thorn”), Sanskrit तृण (tṛ́ṇa, “grass”).

cog

See also Etymology of ye (definite article).

A letter of Latin script (capital: Þ, small: þ), borrowed from the futhark; today used only in Icelandic to represent the voiceless dental fricative, but originally used in several early Germanic scripts, including Old English where it represented the dental fricatives that are today written th (Old English did not have phonemic voicing distinctions for fricatives).


pee

They have writing samples and examine the back loops of pees and the crosses of tees.

It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh."

The name of the Latin-script letter P/p.


nun

Borrowed from the letter’s name in the respective language. Doublet of nu.

The fourteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets or abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


tee

* From Middle English [Term?], from Old English te, from Latin te (the name of the letter T).
* (computing): By analogy with a T-shaped pipe that sends fluids in two directions.

The name of the Latin-script letter T/t.


sad

Alternative form of saad (“Arabic letter”)


zed

→ Greek: ζεντ (zent)

→ Hindi: ज़ेड (zeḍ)

→ Japanese: ゼット (zetto), ゼッド (zeddo)

→ Korean: 제드 (jedeu)

→ Malay: zed

→ Marathi: जेड (jeḍ)

→ Russian: зэд (zɛd)

→ Thai: แซด (sɛ̂t)

→ Welsh: sèd

From Middle English zed, zedde, zede, from Old French zede, from Late Latin zeta, from Ancient Greek ζῆτα (zêta), from Hebrew ז (zayin) with influence from beta, eta and theta. Letter had rare nonstandard usage in Old English, such as in bezt, where it represented "ts" (compare the German, Italian, and Finnish pronunciation of Z). For the sleep sense, see zzz. The zombie sense comes from the initial letter. Doublet of zeta. Cognate to Spanish zeta, German Zett, French zède, Italian zeta, and perhaps Portuguese zê.

Zzz...With all those ʻzedsʼ I'll be sending you to sleep.

2021, Pat Manser, More Than Words: The Making of the Macquarie Dictionary, Sydney: Macquarie Dictionary, page 298:

The name of the Latin-script letter Z/z.


zee

tlb

(chiefly US, Newfoundland, Philippines, increasingly Canada)

→ Tagalog: zi

1670s US variant of zed (which see for more), by analogy with other letters such as bee, dee, tee and vee, and standardized by Noah Webster.


koppa

The 18th Ancient Greek letter in early versions of the Greek alphabet, Ϙ (lowercase ϙ).


ess

1998, Ricardo Corona, "These Esses" ("Eses esses"), in Other Shores (Outras Praias), translated by Ricardo Corona & Charles Perrone
these esses / change in design / and senses themselves / $ // it's as if / the ess / were the sounds / of success

The name of the Latin-script letter S/s.


aitch

→ Arabic: إِتْش (ʔitš)

→ Greek: έιτς (éits)

→ Japanese: エイチ (eichi), dated エッチ (etchi)

→ Korean: 에이치 (eichi)

→ Malay: hec

desc

→ Persian: اِچ (eč, “English letter H”), اِیچ (eyč, “English letter H”)

→ Russian: эйч (ejč, “English letter H”)

→ Tagalog: eyts

→ Thai: เอช (éech), เฮช (héech)

From Middle English ache, borrowed from Old French ache, from Vulgar Latin *acca. (Compare Italian acca.) The source is unclear, but may descend from the vowelless alphabetic sequence ha ka 'H, K' (becoming [aka] when the [h] ceased to be pronounced), as K had low frequency in Late Latin. Doublet of ecchi.

"If you've got any drawing-room manners, or a dislike to eating peas with a knife or dropping aitches, you'd better chuck 'em away. They ain't no further use."

1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 257:

She frowned, hearing Lim Cheng Po's voice, so English, so refined, so very English upper-class. And often she had had to tell Joe about his aitches.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 469:

The word hour is written with a silent aitch.

Cockneys drop their aitches.

The name of the Latin-script letter H/h.


ay

→ Rohingya: ee

→ Tagalog: ey

The name of the Latin-script letter A/a.


yo

Yo sandwich has only bacon in it. Want some ketchup on that?

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of your.


eff

Why against printers all this noise? This summoning of blackguard boys? Why so sagacious in your guesses? Your effs, and tees, and arrs, and eſſes? Take my advice; to make you safe, I know a shorter way be half.

a. 1746 (date written), Jonathan Swift, “On the Irish Club”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 78:

‘Eff. You. En,’ said Mr Banstead. ‘Fun![…]’

1969, Michael Feld, The Sabbatical Year, London: Alan Ross Ltd, page 301:

A or an? When an indefinite article precedes an acronym or initialism, the choice between a and an follows from the pronunciation: / a FAQ file (“fack”; but “an FAQ file” with the alternate pronunciation “eff-ay-cue”) / an FTC commissioner (“eff-tee-cee”)

2019, Amy Einsohn, Marilyn Schwartz, “[Abbreviations and Symbols] Abbreviations”, in The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications, 4th edition, University of California Press, →ISBN, part 2 (Editorial Style), page 242:

‘S-S-C…sitting on a tree…eff-you-cee-kay-i-en-ji.’

2019, Anand Ranganathan, Chitra Subramaniam, The Rat Eater, Bloomsbury India, →ISBN:

Alternative spelling of ef; the name of the Latin-script letter F/f.


visarga

Borrowed from Sanskrit विसर्ग (visarga).

XXV of Centamil published by the Tamil Sangam at Madura that in ancient times āytam was represented by visarga.

1934, P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri, History of Grammatical Theories in Tamil and Their Relation to the Grammatical Literature in Sanskrit:

(phonology, Sanskrit grammar) the voiceless terminal h in Sanskrit


aleph

Borrowed from Hebrew אלף (álef). Doublet of alpha and alif.

Proto-Canaanite alphabet
Proto-Canaanite alphabet

The first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, and its descendants in descended Semitic scripts, such as Phoenician 𐤀 (ʾ, ʾaleph), Aramaic 𐡀 (ʾ), Classical Syriac ܐ ('ālaph), Hebrew א (aleph) and Arabic ا (ʾalif).

أَلِف

first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet and descendant script


gee

From Middle English, from Old English ge, from Latin ge (the name of the letter G).

One branch of English society drops its initial aitches, and another branch ignores its terminal gees.

The word length, which contains only four sounds l e ng th, is usually spell'd thus, el ee en gee tee aitch.

I have drunk en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar from the ef-ell-oh-doubleyou-ee-ar-ess in his gee-ay-ar-dee-ee-en many a time.

The name of the Latin-script letter G/g.


ell

The name of the Latin-script letter L/l. (more commonly el)


cue

Form of Latin qū. First attested as Middle English cu for half a farthing, as an abbreviation for Latin quadrāns (“quarter of an as”). Compare French qu.

"My name is Quinn," said Quinn. "Cue-you-eye-en-en."

2008, John Clark Pratt, Vietnam Voices: Perspectives on the War Years, 1941–1975, page 315:

The name of the Latin-script letter Q/q.


vee

Gussa-Merry-Mingo-Pip-Perry-Pingo is the name of the little old man who looks after the aitch-oh-vee-ee-ar-cee-ay-ar-pee-ee-tee-blank-ar-eye-dee-ee-ess.

2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170:

RV [is spoken] as "ar-vee" instead of "I SPELL Romeo Victor".

2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), p. 3-5

The name of the Latin-script letter V/v.


kay

The name of the Latin-script letter K/k.


qoph

The nineteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


kaph

From Hebrew כָּף (kaf, “kaph”), from Proto-Semitic *kapp- (“palm, hand”) (Akkadian 𒀉 (kappu(m)), Hebrew כַּף (kaf, “hand/foot”), Arabic كَفّ (kaff), Ugaritic 𐎋𐎔 (kp)) Doublet of kappa.

The eleventh letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


zayin

The seventh letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


resh

From Proto-Semitic *raʾš- (“head”). Doublet of ras (“Ethiopian king”) and ras (“headland”), and related to reis.

doublet

The twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). It is homologous with Greek rho and Latin r.


heth

The eighth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


samekh

The 15th letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician. Aramaic. Hebrew. Syriac. And many others).


yodh

Borrowed from Hebrew יו״ד, ultimately from Proto-Semitic *yad- (“hand”).
 Doublet of iota and yod.

The tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


teth

The ninth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


tsade

The eighteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


ayin

From Proto-Semitic *ʿayn- (“eye”), particularly via Hebrew עַיִן (ʿáyin).

Ayin is the most difficult of the faucals.

The sixteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


vav

The sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, ו.


beth

From Middle Bronze Age picture of a house by acrophony, ultimately from Proto-Semitic *bayt- (“house”). Doublet of beta.

The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, ב


kaf

The twenty-second letter of the Arabic alphabet. ك (k)


tav

Alternative form of taw (Semitic letter)


waw

The twenty-seventh letter of the Arabic alphabet: و.


mem

From Phoenician 𐤌𐤌 (mm /mem/, “water”), from Proto-Semitic *maʾ- (“*maʾ-/*may-”). Doublet of mu.

The thirteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


shin

The twenty-first letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others): Shin (letter) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia


palochka

From Russian па́лочка (páločka, “little stick”), diminutive of па́лка (pálka, “stick”).

bor

A Cyrillic letter used in writing several Caucasian languages.


que

en-noun

que (countable and uncountable, plural ques)

having lost their own pees and ques, by some pitiful attempt in our alphabetical orchard

1820, John Borthwick Gilchrist, The Stranger's Infallible East-Indian Guide, London, page 163:

he was about to be interviewed by German television and he had to be on his pees and ques.

2011, Elgin Dobbins, Thirty Seconds to Midnight, page 386:

(rare) The name of the Latin-script letter Q/q. Alternative form of cue.


ze

The name of the Cyrillic script letter З / з.


heh

The fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


ya

A letter of the Cyrillic alphabet: Я, я.


izzard

desc

Hong Kong English: Z (pronounced as /iˈzɛd/ or /ɪˈzɛd/)

From Middle English izod, ezod, ezed, from Old French et zede (literally “and zed”), as spoken when reciting the alphabet.

der

... [Reading.] Dear Sir,—ay, that's that. Then there's an M, and a T, and an S, but whether the next be an izzard, or an R, confound me, I cannot tell.

1773, [Oliver] Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer: Or, The Mistakes of a Night. A Comedy. […], London: […] F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):

(Scotland, Hong Kong, and archaically in England and Ireland) The letter Z; zed, zee.


ka

The name of the Cyrillic script letter К / к.


gimel

From Hebrew גימל (gimel); ultimately from Proto-Semitic word for a weapon which was debatably either a staff sling or a throwing stick. Doublet of gamma.

The third letter of the several Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac).


dee

IED [is spoken] as "eye-ee-dee" instead of "I SPELL India Echo Delta Romeo".

2016, CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), pages 3–5:

The name of the Latin-script letter D/d.


ot

Old Cyrillic script
Appendix:Old Cyrillic script#English

The name of the Old Cyrillic script letter Ѿ / ѿ.


ef

The name of the Latin-script letter F/f.


ve

The name of the Cyrillic script letter В / в.


jim

Alternative form of jeem (“Arabic letter”)


ethel

Learned borrowing from Middle English ethel, from Old English ǣþel, ēþel.


dalet

From a Phoenician word for "door", ultimately from Proto-Semitic *dalt-; compare Hebrew דֶלֶת (délet). Doublet of delta.

The fourth letter of many Semitic alphabets (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


wy

The names of the letters, as now commonly spoken and written in English, are A, Bee, Cee, Dee, E, Eff, Gee, Aitch, I, Jay, Kay, Ell, Em, En, O, Pee, Kue, Ar, Ess, Tee, U, Vee, Double-u, Ex, Wy, Zee.

1856, Goold Brown, The First Lines of English Grammar, page 10:


okina

From Hawaiian ʻokina (“cutting off, separation”).

bor

The Hawaiian apostrophe-like letter (ʻ ) used to indicate the glottal stop consonant.

ʻokina

Polynesian apostrophe-like letter used to indicate the glottal stop consonant


hard c

(phonetics) The "c" sound pronounced /k/, as in "cat" and "cabin", as distinct from the soft c, pronounced /s/, in "cent", "center" and "circuit".


soft c

In English, the "c" sound in "cent", "central" and "circuit" as distinct from the hard c in "cat" and "cabin".

In Italian, the "c" sound in "certo" as distinct from the "c" sound in "caffè".

(phonology) In many languages, a letter "c" which is not pronounced as a velar stop (/k/, like English "k") but as a sibilant (/s/, like English "s") or an affricative (/tʃ/, like English "ch").


soft g

(phonology) The "g" sound pronounced /dʒ/ as in "gem", "giraffe" and "generation" (or sometimes or /ʒ/ as in "genre"), as distinct from the hard g of "get" and "give".


hard g

Hard g at last found his cap and again became Hard G, after which the fight was renewed.

1882, H.M. Dickson, The Elocutionist..., p. 41

(phonetics) The plosive /g/ sound in "get", "log" and "give" as distinct from the soft g in "gem", "giraffe", "lodge" and "generation".


yus

Russian юс (jus), from Old Church Slavonic ѫсъ (ǫsŭ, “big yus”)

uder

Either of two letters, little yus (Ѧ) and big yus (Ѫ), representing nasal vowel sounds in the Cyrillic alphabet. The only major Slavic language retaining these sounds is Polish, which is written in the Latin alphabet.


moon letter

Calque of Arabic حَرْف قَمَرِيّ (ḥarf qamariyy).

calque

حَرْف قَمَرِيّ

القُرْآن القرآن#Arabic

(linguistics) One of fourteen Arabic letters that do not affect the pronunciation of the "L" of a preceding definite article (ال- (al--)). The "L" in the Arabic definite article is pronounced "L" when followed by a moon letter: e.g., القُرْآن (al-qurʔān). The fourteen moon letters are: ء (ʔ), ب (b), ج (j), ح (ḥ), خ (ḵ), ع (ʕ), غ (ḡ), ف (f), ق (q), ك (k), م (m), ه (h), و (w), ي (y)


sun letter

Calque of Arabic حَرْف شَمْسِيّ (ḥarf šamsiyy).

حَرْف شَمْسِيّ

الصِّين الصين#Arabic

(linguistics) One of fourteen Arabic letters that cause the "L" of a preceding definite article اَل (al-) to be assimilated in pronunciation. The sun letter suppresses the sound of the "L" and then geminates: al + ṣīn = aṣ-ṣīn. The effect of the sun letter is limited to pronunciation and does not affect the spelling, except that a shadda may be written over the sun letter and in the fully vocalised spelling lām lacks any diacritics: الصِّين (aṣ-ṣīn). The fourteen sun letters are ت (t), ث (ṯ), د (d), ذ (ḏ), ر (r), ز (z), س (s), ش (š), ص (ṣ), ض (ḍ), ط (ṭ), ظ (ẓ), ل (l), ن (n). Phonetically, they represent coronal consonants.


heta

The Ancient Greek letter eta, or variants of it, when used in their original function of denoting the consonant /h/.

heto

variant of the Ancient Greek letter eta when used to denote the consonant /h/


lamed

From Hebrew לָמֶד (lamedh), from Proto-Semitic *lamed- (“goad”) (Hebrew מַלְמָד (malmad, “goad”)). Doublet of lambda.

The twelfth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).


hamza

Written words such as Qurʼan (which in written Arabic uses a symbol know as hamza to indicate the glottal stop) are rendered with an apostrophe.

2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 33:

A sign (ء (ʔ) - a stand-alone hamza) used in the written Arabic language representing a glottal stop. Hamza may appear as a stand-alone letter or most commonly diacritically over or under other letters, e.g. أ (ʔ) (over an alif - ا), إ (ʔ) (under an alif), ؤ (ʔ) (over a wāw - و (w)) or ئ (ʔ) (over a dotless yāʾ - ى). The exact seat of hamza is governed by an orthographic rule - "seat of hamza rule".


dubs

Oh, B-T-W, you misspelled "heist". It's "ei", not "ie".

2019, The Angry Birds Movie 2, spoken by Chuck (Josh Gad):

(colloquial) The name of the Latin-script letter W/w.


haglaz

From Proto-Germanic *haglaz (“hail”). Doublet of hail.

The h rune symbol in esotericism, Germanic neopaganism and Germanic philology.


sha

(computing) Alternative letter-case form of SHA (“cryptographic hash”)


short s

Coordinate term: long s

Most of it was in modern face of a bad cut, small pica size; the apocrypha was in long primer, old style face, although having short s’s, but the peculiarity was that one signature in the Psalms was in old style with long s’s.

1888 November, The American Bookmaker: A Journal of Technical Art and Information, […], volume VII, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Howard Lockwood & Co., […], page 146:

The following changes have silently been made: long s’s have been changed to short s’s;

2004, Richard-Gabriel Rummonds, “Preface”, in Nineteenth-Century Printing Practices and the Iron Handpress, Oak Knoll Press, page xxxiii:

The s character, as distinct from the long s — the ſ character.


long s

An instance lately occurred of a work so divided (a prayer-book), where the first part was printed with long s’s, and the last part with round, independent of other deviations;

1824, J[ohn] Johnson, Typographia, or the Printers’ Instructor: […], volume II, London: […] Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, […], page 27:

The Bible itself was quite unknown ground until I was ten and stumbled upon the Apocrypha in an old edition of the Bible printed with long s’s and beautiful early type.

1914, Una Hunt, Una Mary: The Inner Life of a Child, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 43:

He liked me to come into his dressing-room to talk to him while he lathered his face, and I remembered the lie I told him when he asked me if I had used the top of his silver shaving-pot to knock in a nail, and the day when he asked me to read him Burke’s speeches aloud in an edition printed with long s’s.

1914, George Moore, ‘Hail and Farewell!’: Vale, London: William Heinemann, page 311:

The ſ character, as distinct from the short s (which is the s character).


kasra

Borrowed from Arabic كَسْرَة (kasra, “a breaking”), instance noun of the verb كَسَرَ (kasara, “to break”).

Kasrahs are mainly encoded U+0650 ᴀʀᴀʙɪᴄ ᴋᴀꜱʀᴀ.

In Arabic script, the vowel point for "i", appearing as a small diagonal line placed below a letter ( ـِ ) and designating a short i /i/. If the Arabic letter ي (yāʔ) immediately follows, it indicates a long ī /iː/.

كَسْرَة

in the Arabic script, the vowel point for "i" (kasra)


izhitsa

The obsolete Cyrillic letter Ѵ, ѵ, formerly used in Russian to represent upsilon in borrowed words.


mim

The esoteric identity and importance of the Perso-Arabic letter, mim, and its Bengali equivalent, ma, were stressed. The letter, when added to Ahad, made Ahmad and Muhammad as well.

2014, Asim Roy, The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal, page 124:

Alternative form of meem (“Arabic letter”).


wye

Attested as wi c. 1200. Of uncertain origin. Perhaps borrowed from Old French ui or gui.

Thus first C checks to see if ex and wye are equal. The resulting value of 1 or 0 (true or false) then is compared to the value of zee.

1984 Waite, Prata & Martin, C (Computer Program Language), p. 190

It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh."

2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170:

The name of the Latin-script letter Y/y.


khi

It is known, from the existence in his time¹ of the Delphic tripod, that all these letters existed in 480 B.C. ; but on that monument the Khi and Psi differ from the forms used later.

1898, Claude Reignier Conder, The Hittites and Their Language, W. Blackwood and Sons, page 249:

The letters upsilon, phi, khi, psi, δ were Greek additions

1963, Thomas Albert Sebeok, Current Trends in Linguistics, Mouton, page 404:

Greek scripts display notable local characteristics — principally with regard to the shape of letters but also in the matter of the phonetic values attributed to signs such as san, sigma, khi, and psi.

2006, Jonathan M. Hall, A History of the Archaic Greek World, Blackwell Publishing, page 57:

Alternative spelling of chi (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ), the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet.


fita

The obsolete Cyrillic letter Ѳ, ѳ formerly used in Russian to write proper names and loanwords derived from or via Greek.


fatha

Borrowed from Arabic فَتْحَة (fatḥa, “an opening”), instance noun of the verb فَتَحَ (fataḥa, “to open”). Refers to the mouth position when pronouncing the /a/ vowel. Doublet of patach and ptaha, denoting the open vowel in the Hebrew and Syriac scripts.

Fatḥahs are mainly encoded U+064E ᴀʀᴀʙɪᴄ ꜰᴀᴛʜᴀ.

أَلِف ألف#Arabic

أَلِف مَقْصُورَة
ألف مقصورة#Arabic

In Arabic script, the vowel point for a, appearing as a diagonal line placed above a letter ( ـَ ) and designating a short a /a/. If the Arabic letters ا (أَلِف (ʔalif)) or ى (أَلِف مَقْصُورَة (ʔalif maqṣūra)) immediately follow, it indicates a long ā /aː/.

فَتْحَة

in the Arabic script, the vowel point for "a" (fatḥa)


arr

Why against printers all this noise? This summoning of blackguard boys? Why so sagacious in your guesses? Your effs, and tees, and arrs, and eſſes? Take my advice; to make you safe, I know a shorter way be half.

a. 1746 (date written), Jonathan Swift, “On the Irish Club”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VIII, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 78:

Alternative form of ar; the name of the Latin-script letter R/r.


kew

Alternative form: cue

The following telegram with explain this: "Your suggestion approved stop the troops proceeding to ex those to wye and zed and the detachment at kew must be completed to ten days rations."

1908, Richard Cyril Byrne Haking, Staff Rides and Regimental Tours, London: Hugh Rees, page 305:

the pardonable confusion for which some blame the cudgel and more blame the soot but unthanks to which the pees with their caps awry are quite as often as not taken for kews with their tails in their or are quite as often as not taken for pews with their tails in their mouths

1939, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber:

"As usual I got me pees an' kews mixed up."

2016, Michael Moorcock, The Condition of Muzak, Titan Publishing:

The name of the Latin-script letter Q/q.


kje

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Ќ / ќ.


cee

I have drunk en-ee-cee-tee-ay-ar from the ef-ell-oh-doubleyou-ee-ar-ess in his gee-ay-ar-dee-ee-en many a time.

The name of the Latin-script letter C/c.


yat

A vowel letter of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet (Cyrillic capital Ѣ, Cyrillic small ѣ, Glagolitic ⱑ), no longer in current use

jat

an obsolete letter of the Cyrillic alphabet "Ѣ/ѣ"


sukun

Sukūns are mainly encoded U+0652 ᴀʀᴀʙɪᴄ ꜱᴜᴋᴜɴ.

Near-synonyms: virama, halant

A diacritic (ـْ) used in the Arabic abjad to mark the absence of a vowel.

سُكُون

Diacritic used to mark the absence of a vowel


shadda

Shaddahs are mainly encoded U+0651 ᴀʀᴀʙɪᴄ ꜱʜᴀᴅᴅᴀ.

A diacritic (◌ّ) used in the Arabic script to indicate gemination of a consonant.


damma

Borrowed from Arabic ضَمَّة (ḍamma, “a joining”), instance noun of the verb ضَمَّ (ḍamma, “to join”). Refers to the joining of the lips together when making an /u/ sound.

Ḍammahs are mainly encoded U+064F ᴀʀᴀʙɪᴄ ᴅᴀᴍᴍᴀ.

(linguistics) In the Arabic script, the vowel point for u, appearing as a small curl placed above a letter ( ـُ ) and designating a short u /u/. If the Arabic letter و (wāw) immediately follows, it indicates a long ū /uː/.

ضَمَّة

an Arabic diacritic denoting the vowel point "u" (ḍamma)


wau

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ϝαῦ (waû). Doublet of vav and waw.


i-breve

The Latin letter "I" with the breve diacritical mark.


double-u

→ Malay: dabel yu

→ Portuguese: dáblio, dâblio (Portugal)

→ Russian: дабл-ю (dabl-ju)

→ Tagalog: dobolyu

Inherited from Middle English doble W, in reference to the letter's origins as a ligature of two Us or Vs (V originally being a typographical variant of U).
The failure of the sequence /bljuː/ to simplify in this word's bisyllabic pronunciation (as in blue) is doubtlessly due to the letter U's name. For colloquial pronunciations without /l/, compare Straya.

The name of the Latin-script letter W/w.


kue

The names of the letters, as now commonly spoken and written in English, are A, Bee, Cee, Dee, E, Eff, Gee, Aitch, I, Jay, Kay, Ell, Em, En, O, Pee, Kue, Ar, Ess, Tee, U, Vee, Double-u, Ex, Wy, Zee.

1856, Goold Brown, The First Lines of English Grammar, page 10:

And there is [a] proverbial warning to mind your pees and kues.

1997, John Trotter, System of Rational Discourse, page 22:

SQL is pronounced either "ess-kue-ell" or "see-kwell" depending on your preference.

2003, Cristian Darie, Karli Watson, The Programmer's Guide to SQL, Apress, page 1:

The name of the Latin-script letter Q/q. Alternative form of cue.


antisigma

en-noun

antisigma (plural antisigmata or antisigmas)

antisigmata (plural)
antisigmas (plural)

An unattested Claudian letter, possibly resembling Ↄ or ↃC.


gje

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Ѓ / ѓ.


haitch

→ Irish: héis

From earlier aitch with an initial H (lost already in Vulgar Latin) restored, from Middle English ache, from Old French ache, from Vulgar Latin *acca, probably an extension of earlier ha, from an unidentified source. The restoration reflects the pronunciation of the letter name in several dialects of English. See the Wikipedia article about the letter.

(chiefly Ireland, Australia, Malaysia) Alternative form of aitch


zaa

Z (zaa): a loose-tongued z; same as above.

2006, Coleman South, Leslie Jermyn, Syria, page 95:

the letter Zaa, formally an emphatic 'z', but often pronounced as an emphatic 'd' in Egyptian Arabic

2013, Jane Wightwick, Mahmoud Gaafar, Colloquial Arabic of Egypt:


alif

From Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif). Doublet of aleph and alpha.

The first letter of the Arabic alphabet: ا (ʔalif).


aspirated h

/ˈæspəɹeɪ̯tɪd eɪ̯tʃ/

Calque of French h aspiré. The aspirated h was pronounced /h/ until Early Modern French (and still is in some northern dialects), whereas the mute h had long been silent. The designation has been maintained although both kinds of h are now technically silent in standard French, but the aspirated h remains pronounced dialectally and in Norman French.

The French word héros ("hero") begins with an aspirated h. Consequently we say le héros /lə e.ʁo/ and les héros /le e.ʁo/, but never /l‿e.ʁo/ and /le‿ze.ʁo/ as we do with the mute h.

(French phonology) In the French language, usage of the letter h at the start of a word which does not allow liaison with a preceding consonant or elision of a preceding schwa.

h aspirada

in the French language usage of the letter h at the start of a word which does not allow liaison with a preceding consonant


mute h

The French word homme ("man") begins with a mute h. Consequently we can say l'homme /l‿ɔm/ and les hommes /le‿zɔm/, but never /lə ɔm/ and /le ɔm/, like we do with the aspirated h.

Whether the h be a mute h or an aspirate h, it may be regarded in either case as absolutely silent.

1913, James Geddes, French Pronunciation, page 83:

In French initial h’s are called either mute h’s (the greatest number) or aspirate h’s (fewer in number, but frequent nonetheless).

1994, Thomas M. Donnan, French Lyric Diction, page 83:

The only difference between the two is that a mute h allows contractions and liaisons in front of it, and an aspirated h does not.

2006, Laura K. Lawless, The Everything French Grammar Book, page 29:

(phonology) In the French language usage of the letter h at the start of a word which allows liaison with a preceding consonant.


ayn

A romanization of Kazakh аин (ain), the Kazakh name for the letter Ғ (Ğ).

(linguistics) Synonym of ghayn, the letter Ғ, representing the consonant /ʁ/ or /ɣ/, particularly in Kazakh.


lunate sigma

The form of the Greek letter sigma used in Medieval Greek and occasionally in Greek Orthodox Church transcriptions: ϲ.


final sigma

The form of the Greek letter sigma only ever used as the last letter of a word: ς.


intrusive r

(phonetics) An "r" sound that is like a linking r but occurs despite the absence of "r" in the spelling, as in Asia and the Far East in some pronunciations.


dotless i

A letter whose uppercase version is "I" and lowercase version is "ı". A letter "I"/"i" without the lowercase dot, that is used in the Turkish language.


double S

The name of the Latin-script letter ẞ/ß.


dje

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Ђ / ђ.


episemon

From Byzantine Greek ἐπίσημον (epísēmon), from Ancient Greek ἐπίσημος (epísēmos, “distinguished; remarkable”), from ἐπί (epí, “above”) + σῆμα (sêma, “sign”).


hard sign

Calque of Russian твёрдый знак (tvjórdyj znak).

calque

твёрдый знак

The Cyrillic letter Ъ/ъ, which in modern languages serves to denote a hard (non-palatalized) consonant.


soft sign

Calque of Russian мя́гкий знак (mjáxkij znak), from мя́гкий (mjáxkij, “palatal, palatized, soft”) + знак (znak, “mark, sign”).

мя́гкий знак

The Cyrillic letter Ь/ь (transliterated in English with an apostrophe (’) or prime (′)), which in modern languages using the Cyrillic alphabet serves to denote a soft (palatized) consonant.


buky

From Old Church Slavonic боукꙑ (buky), from Proto-Slavic *buky, from Proto-West Germanic *bōku. Doublet of beech.

Name of the letter b in Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets.

боукꙑ

name of the letter b in the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets


jeem

The underlying letters themselves are a concept. For example, the Arabic letter jeem can be rendered by any of four possible glyphs (depending on where the letter jeem is positioned in the text).

2013, John D. Byrum, Olivia Madison, Multi-script, Multilingual, Multi-character Issues for the Online Environment, page 100:


ghayn

(linguistics) The Cyrillic letter Ғ in various Central Asian languages.

The Hebrew 'Ayn has, it is true, in many cases — some scholars say always — the sound of the Arabic ghayn […]

1872, Richard Francis Burton et al., Unexplored Syria:


maddah

آسِف آسف#Arabic

قُرْآن قرآن#Arabic

Arabic diacritic similar in appearance to a tilde. Over an alif (آ (ʔā) "alif maddah"), it indicates glottal stop, /ʔ/, followed by a long /aː/. The diacritic is not used separately, only over alif. Alif maddah can appear in the beginning: آسِف (ʔāsif) or in the middle of a word: قُرْآن (qurʔān).


yery

A letter of the Cyrillic alphabet: ы (y), now usually simply called "ы"


e caudata

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin ē caudāta (literally “tailed e”).

lbor

A form of the letter e modified by the addition of a diacritical “tail”: ⟨ę⟩.

Used in Latin for a long ē that represents an etymological ⟨ae⟩ or ⟨oe⟩ diphthong, both of which diphthongs had phonologically merged into ⟨ē⟩ by the early Mediaeval period.


r rotunda

en-noun

r rotunda (plural rs rotunda or rs rotundae)

rs rotunda (plural)
rs rotundae (plural)

/ˌɑː.ɹəʊˈtʌn.də/

/ˌɑɹ.ɹoʊˈtʌn.də/

From or representing Latin r rotunda (literally “round ‘r’”). The adjective rotunda is the feminine form of rotundus, inflected to agree with littera (“letter”), elliptically omitted (compare e caudata). The phrase is little attested in Latin, and might have been formed in English, or been borrowed from another language which formed it from those Latin roots.

Coordinate term: straight r

[…] completely informed about the decisions made and the reasons to make them, e.g. r rotunda does not figure in the transcription as the use of straight r and r rotunda is governed by the preceding character and thus completely predictable.

1989, Arend Quak, Florus (Floor) Rhee, Palaeogermanica et onomastica., Rodopi, page 3

And certain geminated consonants are represented by capitals : ɢ, ɴ, ʀ, ꜱ. Does a form like haʀ mean a long r, or is it a scribal habit on the level of the usage of r rotunda, not straight r, after round letters? The occurrence of forms with -rr […]

2000, Anna A. Grotans, Heinrich Beck, Anton Schwob, De consolatione philogiae: studies in honor of Evelyn S. Firchow, volume 2, page 624:

The distinction between r rotunda and straight r has not been kept in the transcription, as the usage of r rotunda is predictable from the preceding character: r rotunda is used after round letters.

2017, Andrea de Leeuw van Weenen, editor, A Grammar of Möðruvallabók, BRILL, →ISBN, page 11:

(typography) A curved form of the letter r, found in some medieval and fraktur scripts: ⟨ ꝛ ⟩.


linking r

(phonetics) An "r" that is pronounced only because it is closely followed by another morpheme beginning with a vowel sound, as in water ice, in non-rhotic varieties of English.


eszett

From German Eszett, from the names of the letters S and Z which make up its blackletter form.

In fits of concealed despair that went unnoticed even by those close enough to touch, Julien cursed the language of umlauts, eszetts, and gerunds.

1997, Matthew Piepenburg, Time and the Maiden, →ISBN, page 62:

In German, the ß character is called eszett. It’s used in “Straße,” the word for street, and in the expletive “Scheiße.” It’s often transliterated as “ss,” and strangely enough, it’s never had an official uppercase counterpart.

2017 July 20, Thu-Huong Ha, “Germany has ended a century-long debate over a missing letter in its alphabet”, in Quartz:


sharp s

A minor but convenient feature is the ability to include words with accent marks (Umlauts, sharp s’s) (ß) into the text. The accent entry utility provides a quick and useful way of adding diacritical marks or sharp s’s in German) (ß) into the text.

That there are sudden and unexplained changes of typeface (on p. 121) or that Greek betas appear in lieu of German sharp s’s could be construed as small oversights.

The beginning of each chapter has been silently regularized (e.g., “REligion” becomes “Religion”), as have words with tildes (e.g., “burthe^~” becomes “burthen” and “woma^~” becomes “woman”) and sharp s’s (e.g., “amißa” becomes “amissa”).

2004, ““Women, their mindes are crystall”: Christopher Newstead’s Arguments for the Superiority of Women”, in Susan Gushee O’Malley, editor, “Custome Is an Idiot”: Jacobean Pamphlet Literature on Women, Urbana, Ill., Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, pages 116–117:


o caudata

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin o caudāta (literally “tailed o”).

lbor

For quotations using this term, see Citations:o caudata.

(rare) A form of the letter o modified by the addition of a diacritical “tail”: ⟨ǫ⟩, used in Old Norse.


magic e

Write the following words in a column on a printing tablet or whiteboard: fat, mat, rat, cap, pan, hid, at, and us. Ask your child to wave his magic wand, add an e with his pencil, and see the new words he makes as he adds the magic e.

2011, Susan M. Greve, Phonics for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 114:

(education) A silent e (in certain English words, such as cake and time) that appears to change the pronunciation of the preceding vowel.


yae

The Cyrillic letter Ԙ (capital), ԙ (lower case), a ligature of Я and Е.


kha

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Х / х.


silent h

Examples include the silent h in ghost (to match Dutch gheest, which later became geest), aghast, ghastly and gherkin.

2019, Carson Stewart, History of the English Language, page 178:

(orthography) A letter ⟨h⟩ that is written but not pronounced.


canine letter

So called because it sometimes represents a sound like a dog's growl.

All the foregoing etymologies, be it observed, are the conjectures of English scholars; for the English is the only language in which the name of the individual, Fairy, has the canine letter to afford any foundation for them.

1833, Thomas Keightley, Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 10:


Germanic h

From Germanic + h, due to the prevalence of words with this letter originating from Germanic languages.

The Germanic h, on the other hand, was at one time a distinct phoneme in French, much the same as [h] in Modern English (Fouché, 580–581). In this study I first explain how the Germanic h came into the French language during the Germanic tribes’ invasions in the fifth century.

1994, Stephen P. Cutts, “The Germanic h in French”, in General Linguistics, volume 34, numbers 3–4, Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton, →ISSN, section 0.0 (Introduction), page 145:


kicking kuh

/ˈkɪkɪŋ ˈkə/

From the shape of the letter (resembling a person kicking).

Or did it start as Kill It Bang before they decided to soften it slightly by changing the kicking kuh to a curly cuh?

2014, Dave Gorman, Too Much Information, Random House, page 181:

(Sometimes these are spelt with a kicking ‘kuh’ rather than a curly ‘cuh’ as ‘homoskedasticity’ and ‘heteroskedasticity’.)

2018, Alan R. Jones, Best Fit Lines & Curves: And Some Mathe-Magical Transformations, Routledge, page 174:

(British, childish) The letter K, as distinct from the letter C ("curly cuh").


curly cuh

(British, childish) The letter C, as distinct from the letter K ("kicking kuh").


Algiz

Learned borrowing from Proto-Germanic *algiz (“elk”). Doublet of alce.

Algiz is a solid, stable, and very firm rune. It makes a good fence or wall, and functions nicely to guard one's Wyrd and one's property.

2009, Galina Krasskova, Runes: Theory & Practice, Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, page 95:

Algiz, one of the oldest runes, associated with sedge grass, and Thor, and Heimdall, and a number of other things depending on who you asked and which runic alphabet you used. Algiz had a universal meaning: protection.

2011, Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays, Penguin, →ISBN, page 73:

Hold up the stone and trace the Algiz rune in the air before you. Visualize it as glowing with white, purifying light. As you do so, growl the word Algiz.

2020, Denny Sargent, Werewolf Magick: Authentic Practical Lycanthropy, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN:

The 15th rune in the Elder Futhark, the 7th rune in Hagal's Aett, ⟨ᛉ⟩.


straight r

[…] completely informed about the decisions made and the reasons to make them, e.g. r rotunda does not figure in the transcription as the use of straight r and r rotunda is governed by the preceding character and thus completely predictable.

And certain geminated consonants are represented by capitals : ɢ, ɴ, ʀ, ꜱ. Does a form like haʀ mean a long r, or is it a scribal habit on the level of the usage of r rotunda, not straight r, after round letters? The occurrence of forms with -rr […]

The distinction between r rotunda and straight r has not been kept in the transcription, as the usage of r rotunda is predictable from the preceding character: r rotunda is used after round letters.

2017, Andrea de Leeuw van Weenen, A Grammar of Möðruvallabók, BRILL, →ISBN, page 11:

(typography) The usual form of the letter r (which is r), as contrasted with r rotunda (ꝛ).


bossy r

(education) The letter r (in certain English words, such as bird and sort) that modifies the pronunciation of the preceding vowel.


Elhaz

Learned borrowing from Proto-Germanic *elhaz (“elk”). Doublet of elk.

Elhaz signifies the elk and the sedge plant, both noted for their ability to protect. Elhaz is considered the most powerful of the runes for protection against those influences we find in conflict with ourselves.

2007, Christina Pratt, An Encyclopedia of Shamanism, volume 2, The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, →ISBN, page 403:


enyay

These accent letter codes and punctuation codes are represented by two characters. The first character (called a signal) more or less modifies the second character. For example, ˜n represents the Spanish enyay.

1988, Don Chapman, Alan K Melby, “MicroMATER”, in Deseret Language and Linguistic Society Symposium, volume 14, number 1, page 67:

Please try to stay away from some of those special characters (umlauts, hachas, enyays, etc), because they are 8-bit and non-standard.

1994 June 7, Jeff Kopmanis, “LSM: New Release: 05JUN94”, in comp.os.linux.development (Usenet):

I suppose it's intended to be used by people who are used to the US layout, but who want to be able to put a few types of accents onto a few vowels. There's upside down punctuation, no C cedille, no enyay. I don't _think_ so anyway. It may be that ~N produces an enyay, in which case it would be just as annoying to use in the Unix world as one of the other national layouts.

2002 July 23, Silvan, “strange keyboard behavior”, in alt.os.linux.mandrake (Usenet):

Of course, Unicode supports the enyay—ñ—as a single encoded character, but there are many examples of language elements in, say, Vietnamese, for which there are no single encoded characters in Unicode.

2002, Jim Melton, Alan R. Simon, SQL: 1999, Morgan Kaufmann, →ISBN, page 705:

"No, no, no," I said, trilling my double r's and transforming all the n's with tildes into enyays, "I did not ask you what it cost, I asked you what it was worth."

2008 November, Ben Guerrero, “Rockers”, in Home, Ridgefield: Hersam Acorn Newspapers, page 42:

The name of the Latin-script letter Ñ/ñ.


hard r

First and foremost / You are under no circumstances / Ever permitted / To say the n-word / I don't care if it's soft a or hard r

2016 May 5, MItchell Joseph Sewell, Standpoint: Black Queer Southern Revelations, University of South Carolina - Columbia, Senior Theses. 87, page 45; Tips for a Successful Interracial Relationship:

While telling the story, Student B said the "N-word". Student A told Student B that using that language was not okay. Student B's response was "It's okay, I don't say it with the hard R."

2021, Dean of Students Office, “Fall 2021”, in Bias Advisory and Response Team Updates, Xavier University, archived from the original on 2023-03-14:

Opinions will continue to differ about the N-word — does pronunciation that ends in a soft “a” versus a hard “r” make a difference?

2022 January 7, John McWhorter, “Opinion: I Can’t Brook the Idea of Banning ‘Negro’”, in The New York Times:

African-American Vernacular English
African-American Vernacular English

(chiefly US) The hard r at the end of the word nigger when spoken with a General American accent and considered more offensive than the African-American Vernacular English pronunciation conventionally spelled nigga, whose final sound is sometimes called soft a.


dzzhe

The name of the Cyrillic script letter Ԫ / ԫ.