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This is a list of digraphs used in various
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...
s. Capitalisation involves only the first letter (''ch'' becomes ''Ch'') unless otherwise stated (''ij'' becomes ''IJ''). Letters with diacritics are arranged in alphabetic order according to their base: is alphabetised with , not at the end of the alphabet, as it would be in Danish, Norwegian and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
. Substantially-modified letters, such as (a variant of ) and (based on ), are placed at the end.


Apostrophe

(capital ) is used in Bari for . (capital ) is used in Bari for . is used in the Wu MiniDict Romanisation for when it appears in a dark or ''yin'' tone. It is also often written as . is used in the Wu MiniDict Romanisation for dark is used in the Wu MiniDict Romanisation for dark is used in the Wu MiniDict Romanisation for dark (capital ) is used in Bari and Hausa (in Nigeria) for , but in Niger, Hausa is replaced with .


A

is used in Taa, where it represents the glottalized or creaky-voiced vowel . is used in Dutch, Finnish and other languages with phonemic long vowels for . It is also used in some English and Scots dialects, such as Northumbrian and Shetlandic, to represent . It was formerly used in Danish and Norwegian (and still is in some proper names) to represent a single vowel, which in Danish is often or , until it was replaced with the letter . There is a ligature . In
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
Romanisations such as
Jyutping Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates f ...
or
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, this is used to represent , which contrasts with . is used in Irish, where it represents between two "broad" ( velarized) consonants, e.g. ''Gael'' ('a Gael'). : In
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
, originally represented the
diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
, before it was
monophthong A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, w ...
ized in the
Vulgar Latin Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal registers of Latin spoken from the Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve into numerous Romance languages. Its literary counterpa ...
period to ; in medieval manuscripts, the digraph was frequently replaced by the ligature . : In Modern English, Latin loanwords with are generally pronounced with (e.g. ''Caesar''), prompting
Noah Webster Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...
to shorten this to in his 1806 spelling reform for
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
. : In German, is a variant of found in some proper names or in contexts where is unavailable. : In Dutch, is an old spelling variant of the digraph but now only occurs in names of people or (less often) places and in a few loanwords from Greek and Latin. : In Zhuang, is used for ( is used for ). : In
Revised Romanization of Korean Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Mini ...
, is used for /ɛ/. is used in Portuguese for . is used in Taa, where it represents the breathy or
murmured Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...
. In German and English it typically represents a
long vowel In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, ...
. is used in many
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s, typically representing the diphthong . In English, as a result of the
Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...
, the vowel of has shifted from this value to as in ''pain'' and ''rain'', while it may have a sound of in unstressed syllables like ''bargain'' and ''certain(ly)'', or in the stressed syllable of ''again(st)'' (AmE), depending on the word; while in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, a different change, ''monophthongization'', has occurred, resulting in the digraph representing . A similar change has also occurred during the development of Greek, resulting in and the both having the same sound; originally , later . In German, it represents as in ''Kaiser'' (which derived from Latin ''caesar''). However, most German words use for . In the Kernowek Standard orthography of Cornish, it represents , mostly in loanwords from English such as ''paint''. is used in Irish for between a broad and a slender consonant. is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for , as in ''aînesse'' or ''maître'' . is used in Irish for between a broad and a slender consonant. is used in Portuguese for . It has, thus, the same value as , but the latter is much more common. is used in Portuguese for at the end of a word, before a consonant, and before a vowel; and in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for ( before a vowel). is used in Portuguese for a stressed before a consonant. is used in many languages to write a nasal vowel. In Portuguese it is used for before a consonant, in French it represents , and in many
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...
n languages it represents . In Breton this digraph represents . is used in Portuguese for a stressed before a consonant. is used in Tibetan Pinyin for . It is alternately written . is used in Walloon, for the nasal vowel . is used in
Lakhota Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. Lakota is mutually intelligible with the two dialects of the Dakota language, especially Western Dakota, and ...
for the nasal vowel is used in the Irish for or , depending on dialect, between broad consonants. In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, it is found in a few words such as ''paonne'' representing . In Malagasy, it represents , and in Piedmontese, . In Wymysorys, it represents (also spelt ). In
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
, this is used to represent . is used in Portuguese for . is used in Taa, for the pharyngealized vowel . in English is a result of various linguistic changes from Middle English, having shifted from to . In a number of dialects, this has merged with . It occasionally represents the diphthong , as in ''flautist''. Other pronunciations are in North American English ''aunt'' and ''laugh'', in ''gauge'', as in ''gauche'' and ''chauffeur'', and as in '' meerschaum'' and ''restaurant''. Due to historical reasons, this is used to transcribe in several Romanizations of Wu Chinese. In German and Dutch, it is used for the diphthongs and respectively ( in some northern and in some southern Dutch and some Flemish dialects). In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, represents or sometimes . It most frequently appears in the inflectional ending marking plurals of certain kinds of words like ''cheval'' ('horse') or ''canal'' ('channel'), respectively having a plural in ''chevaux'' and ''canaux''. In Icelandic, it represents . In the Kernowek Standard orthography of Cornish, stands for long or short , as in ''caul'' ('cabbage') or ''dauncya'' ('to dance'). is used in German for the diphthong in declension of native words with ''au''; elsewhere, is written as . In words where ä, u is separated in two syllables, mostly of Latin origin, is pronounced as , as in '' Matthäus'' (one German form for '' Matthew''). was used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
but has been replaced by the trigraph eau. is used in English in ways that parallel English , though it appears more often at the end of a word. In Cornish, represents the diphthong or . In
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
, represents the diphthong . is used in English in ways that parallel English , though it appears more often at the end of a word. Unlike , functions almost the same as (the sound in ''key'') at the end of variant spellings of names like ''Lindsay'' and ''Ramsay''. In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, it is usually used to represent /ɛj/ before a vowel (as in ''ayant'') and /ɛ.i/ before a consonant (as in ''pays''). In Cornish, represents the sounds , , , or . (a split digraph) indicates an English 'long a', historically but now most commonly realised as . is used to notate in
Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...
Pe̍h-ōe-jī (; ; ), also sometimes known as the Church Romanization, is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min Chinese, particularly Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien. Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in So ...
.


B

is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
for in languages such as Yi, where ''b'' stands for . In Hungarian, it represents
geminated In phonetics and phonology, gemination (), or consonant lengthening (from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct fr ...
. In English, doubling a letter indicates that the previous vowel is short (so ''bb'' represents ). In ISO romanized Korean, it is used for the fortis sound , otherwise spelled ; an example is hobbang. In Hadza it is the rare ejective . In several African languages it is implosive . In Cypriot Arabic it is . is used in English for in a few words of Greek origin, such as ''bdellatomy.'' When not initial, it represents , as in ''abdicate.'' is used in Bavarian and several
African languages The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern ...
for the . is used in transcriptions of Indo-Aryan languages for a
murmured Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...
voiced bilabial plosive The voiced bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA The Extended Speech Assessment Meth ...
(), and for equivalent sounds in other languages. In Juǀʼhoan, it's used for the similar prevoiced aspirated plosive . In Irish, it stands for the
phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...
s and , word-initially as the lenition of for example ('my boat'), ('would be'). In the orthography used in Guinea before 1985, was used in Pular (a Fula language) for the voiced bilabial implosive , whereas in Xhosa, Zulu, and Shona, represents the implosive and represents the plosive . In some orthographies of Dan, is and is . is used in Cornish for an optionally pre-occluded ; that is, it is pronounced either or (in any position); (before a consonant or finally); or (before a vowel); examples are ''mabm'' ('mother') or ''hebma'' ('this'). is used in Sandawe and romanized Thai for , and in Irish it represents as the eclipsis of . is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for the
voiced labiodental affricate The voiced labiodental affricate ( in IPA) is a rare affricate consonant that is initiated as a voiced labiodental stop and released as a voiced labiodental fricative . Features Features of the voiced labiodental affricate: *There are tw ...
. is used in Shona for a whistled sibilant cluster .


C

is used in Andean Spanish for loanwords from Quechua or Aymara with , as in ''Ccozcco'' (modern ''Qusqu)'' (' Cuzco'). In many European languages, before front vowels represents a sequence such as , e.g. English ''success'', French ''occire'', Spanish ''accidente'' (dialectally or ); this is not the case of Italian, where a before a front vowel represents a geminated , as in ''lacci'' . In Piedmontese and Lombard, represents the sound at the end of a word. In Hadza it is the glottalized click . In English internet slang, can sometimes replace the letters or at the ends of words, such as with ''thicc'', ''protecc'', ''succ'' and ''phucc''. was used for or in Old English (''ecg'' in Old E and nglish sounded like 'edge' in Modern English, while ''frocga'' sounded like 'froga'), where both are long consonants. It is used for the click in Naro, and in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the
voiceless dental click The voiceless or more precisely tenuis dental click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The Doke/Beach convention, ado ...
. is used in several languages. In English, it can represent , , , or . See article. is used in
Manx Manx (; formerly sometimes spelled Manks) is an adjective (and derived noun) describing things or people related to the Isle of Man: * Manx people **Manx surnames * Isle of Man It may also refer to: Languages * Manx language, also known as Manx ...
for , as a distinction from which is used for . is used in
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
and the Chechen Latin alphabet for . In the Ossete Latin alphabet, it was used for . is used in the Italian for before the non-front vowel letters . In English, it usually represents whenever it precedes any vowel other than . In Polish, it represents whenever it precedes a vowel, and whenever it precedes a consonant (or in the end of the word), and is considered a graphic variant of ć appearing in other situations. In Romanian, it represents . The digraph is found at the end of a word (deci, atunci, copaci) or before the letters a, o, or u (ciorba, ciuleandra); the sound made by the letter c in front of the letters e or i becomes in front of the three aforementioned vowels, making the addition of the letter i necessary. is used in Friulian for such as in words ''cjocolate'' . It's also used in local orthographies of Lombard to represent derived from Latin ⟨cl⟩. is used in many
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
in lieu of or to indicate either a
geminated In phonetics and phonology, gemination (), or consonant lengthening (from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct fr ...
, or a with a preceding (historically) short vowel. The latter is the case with English ''tack'', ''deck'', ''pick'', ''lock'', and ''buck'' (compare ''backer'' with ''baker''). In German, indicates that the preceding vowel is short. Prior to the German spelling reform of 1996, it was replaced by for syllabification. The new spelling rules allow only syllabification of the as a whole: :*Old spelling: ''Säcke'': ''Säk-ke'' ('sacks') :*New spelling: ''Säcke'': ''Sä-cke'' :Among the modern Germanic languages, is used mainly in Alsatian, English, German,
Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of t ...
,
Scots Scots usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: * Scots language, a language of the West Germanic language family native to Scotland * Scots people, a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland * Scoti, a Latin na ...
,
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, and other
West Germanic languages The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...
in
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
and Switzerland. Similarly, is used for the same purpose in
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
, Danish, Dutch, Icelandic, Norwegian, and other West Germanic languages in the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
. Compare the word ''nickel'', which is the same in many of these languages except for the customary or spelling. The word is ''
nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...
'' in English and Swedish, ''
Nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...
'' in German, and '' nikkel'' in Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Icelandic and Norwegian. :It was also used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the
voiceless dental click The voiceless or more precisely tenuis dental click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The Doke/Beach convention, ado ...
(equivalent to ). :It is also used in Cornish for at the end of a syllable after a short vowel; only in loanwords (mostly from English) in the
Standard Written Form The Standard Written Form or SWF ( kw, Furv Skrifys Savonek) of the Cornish language is an orthography standard that is designed to "provide public bodies and the educational system with a universally acceptable, inclusive, and neutral orthograph ...
(SWF), more widely in Kernowek Standard. is used in English for in a few words of Greek origin, such as ''
cnidarian Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in Fresh water, freshwater and Marine habitats, marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocyt ...
.'' When not initial, it represents , as in ''acne.'' is used in Seri for a
labialized Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involv ...
velar plosive, . It is placed between and in alphabetical order. is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for . is used in the Hungarian for a voiceless postalveolar affricate, . It is considered a distinct letter, named ''csé'', and is placed between and in alphabetical order. Examples of words with cs include ''csak'' ('only'), ''csésze'' ('cup'), ''cső'' ('pipe'), ''csípős'' ('peppery'). is used in English for in a few words of Greek origin, such as ''ctenoid.'' When not initial, it represents , as in ''act''. is used in languages such as
Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
(that is, based on Spanish or Portuguese orthography) for . In Nahuatl, is used before a vowel, whereas is used after a vowel. is used in modern scholarly editions of Old English for the sound , which was spelled , or in manuscripts. In Middle English these were all replaced by Latin . is used in
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
as an unofficial surrogate of , which represents . is used in Polish for as in ('hello'). In
Kashubian Kashubian can refer to: * Pertaining to Kashubia, a region of north-central Poland * Kashubians, an ethnic group of north-central Poland * Kashubian language See also *Kashubian alphabet The Kashubian or Cassubian alphabet (''kaszëbsczi alf ...
, represents . In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
, historical contracted to the ligature , and represents the sound . In Hungarian, it was formerly used for the sound , which is now written .


D

is used in Naro for the click , and in Juǀʼhoan for the prevoiced ejective . is used in English to indicate a with a preceding (historically) short vowel (e.g. ''jaded'' has a "long a" while ''ladder'' has a "short a"). In
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
, represents a
voiced dental fricative The voiced dental fricative is a consonant sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English-speakers as the ''th'' sound in ''father''. Its symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is eth, or and was taken from the Old En ...
. It is treated as a distinct letter, named ''èdd'', and placed between and in alphabetical order. In the ISO romanization of Korean, it is used for the fortis sound , otherwise spelled ; examples are '' ddeokbokki'' and '' bindaeddeok''. In Basque, it represents a voiced palatal plosive , as in ''onddo'', ('mushroom'). In several African languages it is implosive . Latin delta (ẟ, lowercase only) is represented by "dd" in
Modern Welsh The history of the Welsh language (Welsh: ''Hanes yr iaith Gymraeg'') spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. Origins Welsh evolved from British, the ...
. is used in English for in certain contexts, such as with ''judgement'' and ''hedge'' is used in the Albanian,
Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...
, and revived Cornish for the
voiced dental fricative The voiced dental fricative is a consonant sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English-speakers as the ''th'' sound in ''father''. Its symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is eth, or and was taken from the Old En ...
. The first examples of this digraph are from the Oaths of Strasbourg, the earliest French text, where it denotes the same sound developed mainly from intervocalic Latin -''t''-. In early traditional Cornish (
yogh The letter yogh (ȝogh) ( ; Scots: ; Middle English: ) was used in Middle English and Older Scots, representing ''y'' () and various velar phonemes. It was derived from the Insular form of the letter ''g''. In Middle English writing, tailed ...
), and later , were used for this purpose.
Edward Lhuyd Edward Lhuyd FRS (; occasionally written Llwyd in line with modern Welsh orthography, 1660 – 30 June 1709) was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also named in a Latinate form as Eduardus Luidius. Life ...
is credited for introducing the grapheme to Cornish orthography in 1707 in his ''Archaeologia Britannica''. In Irish it represents the
voiced velar fricative The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in Modern English but existed in Old English. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ...
or the voiced palatal approximant ; at the beginning of a word it shows the
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a ...
of , for example ''mo dhoras'' ('my door' cf. ''doras'' 'door'). :In the pre-1985 orthography of Guinea, was used for the voiced alveolar implosive in Pular. It is currently written . In the orthography of Shona it is the opposite: represents , and . In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages, represents a dental stop, . :In addition, is used in various romanization systems. In transcriptions of Indo-Aryan languages, for example, it represents the
murmured Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...
voiced dental plosive , and for equivalent sounds in other languages. In Juǀʼhoan, it's used for the similar prevoiced aspirated plosive . In the
romanization of Arabic The romanization of Arabic is the systematic rendering of Modern Standard Arabic, written and varieties of Arabic, spoken Arabic language, Arabic in the Latin script. Romanized Arabic is used for various purposes, among them transcription of na ...
, it denotes , which represents in
Modern Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; occasionally, it also re ...
. is used in Faroese,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and many French-based orthographies for . In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages such as
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and Pitjantjatjara, it represents a postalveolar stop such as or ; this sound is also written , , , or . It is also formerly used in Indonesian as . is used in Hmong’s Romanized Popular Alphabet for . In
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...
, it represents , and in Xhosa it represents . In Hadza it is ejective . is used in
Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),
for (in Alaska, is used instead). is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated and nasally released . is used in Yélî Dnye for nasally released . In Cornish, it is used for an optionally pre-occluded ; that is, it is pronounced either or (in any position); (before a consonant or finally); or (before a vowel); examples are ''pedn'' ('head') or ''pednow'' ('heads'). is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated . is used for the click in Naro. is used in Malagasy for . See . It is used in Fijian for 'ndr' nasalized (). is used in Juǀʼhoan for the prevoiced ejective . is used in German,
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, and Sandawe orthography as well as the romanization of Thai for . In Irish it represents as the eclipsis of . is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for the voiced dental affricate . is used in some Zapotecan languages for a
voiced postalveolar fricative A voiced postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses term ''voiced postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound , but it also describes the voiced postalveolar ...
. (It is placed between and in alphabetical order.) In Juǀʼhoan it is used for the prevoiced uvularized plosive . is used in Xhosa for . In Shona, it represents . In
Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...
it is used for . In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages such as
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and Pitjantjatjara, it represents a postalveolar stop such as or . This sound is also written , , , , or . is used in several languages, often to represent . See article. is used in the Polish and Sorbian alphabets for , the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate, as in ''dźwięk'' . is never written before a
vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (l ...
( is used instead, as in ''dziecko'' 'child'). is used in the Polish for a voiced retroflex affricate (e.g. 'jam'). is used in
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
, Slovak,
Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...
, and Latvian to represent . See article.


E

is used in Taa, where it represents the glottalised or creaky vowel . is used in many
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. In English, usually represents the monophthong as in ''meat''; due to a sound change that happened in Middle English, it also often represents the vowel as in ''sweat''. Rare pronunciations occur, like in ''break'', ''great'', ''steak'', and ''yea'', and in the archaic '' ealdorman''. When followed by r, it can represent the standard outcomes of the previously mentioned three vowels in this environment: as in ''beard'', as in ''heard'', and as in ''bear'', respectively; as another exception, occurs in the words ''hearken'', ''heart'' and ''hearth''. It often represents two independent vowels, like (''seance''), (''reality''), (''create''), and or (''lineage''). Unstressed, it may represent (''ocean'') and or (''Eleanor''). In Romanian, it represents the diphthong as in ''beată'' ('drunk female'). In Irish, represents between a slender and a broad consonant. In Old English, it represents the diphthong . is also the transliteration of the rune of the Anglo-Frisian Futhorc. is used in Irish for between a slender and a broad consonant. is used in Irish for between a slender and a broad consonant. represents a long mid vowel in a number of languages. In English, represents as in ''teen''. In Dutch and German, represents (though it is pronounced in majority of northern Dutch dialects). In the
Cantonese Romanisation Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, it represents as in English, or for characters which might be pronounced as in other dialects. In Bouyei, is used for plain , as stands for . is used in Taa for the
murmured Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...
vowel . In the Wade-Giles transliteration of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
, it is used for after a consonant, as in ''yeh'' . In German, represents , as in ''Reh''. This digraph was taken over from
Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...
, where it represented . It usually represents a
diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
. In Modern German, is predominant in representing , as in ''Einstein'', while the equivalent digraph appears in only a few words. In English, can represent many sounds, including , as in ''vein'', as in ''seize'', as in ''heist'', as in ''heifer'', as in ''enceinte'', and or as in ''forfeit''. See also I before e except after c. In southern and western Faroese dialects, it represents the diphthong , while in northern and eastern dialects, it represents the diphthong . In Portuguese, represents in Greater Lisbon, so do and , but or in Brazil, East Timor, Macau, rest of Portugal, and Portuguese-speaking African countries, In
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
, represents . In Irish and
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...
, it represents before a slender consonant. In Dutch and
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
, represents . In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, represents , as in ''seiche''. is used In Hepburn romanization of the
Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
to transcribe the sound . is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for , as in ''reître'' . is used in Irish for between slender consonants. is used in
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
in some short words, such as ''leja'' or ''nej'' . is used in Portuguese for at the end of a word and before a consonant. In French orthography, it can represent /ɑ̃/. is used in Portuguese for at the end of a word. is used in Portuguese for at the end of a word and before a consonant. is used in Portuguese for at the end of a word followed or not by an as in ''hífen'' or ''hifens''; and for before a consonant within a word. In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, it represents or . is used in Portuguese for before a consonant. is used in Portuguese for before a consonant. is used in Irish for ( in 4 words) between a slender and a broad consonant. In the
Jyutping Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates f ...
romanization of
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
, it represents , an allophone of , while in the
Cantonese Romanisation Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, it represents . In the
Revised Romanization of Korean Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Mini ...
, represents the open-mid back unrounded vowel , and in Piedmontese it is . In English is a rare digraph without a single pronunciation, representing in '' feoff'', ''jeopardy'', ''leopard'' and the given name ''Geoffrey'', in ''people'', in ''
yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...
'' and in the archaic '' feodary'', while in the originally Gaelic name MacLeod it represents . However, usually it represents two vowels, like in ''leotard'' and ''galleon'', in ''stereo'' and, in ''
geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), Earth rotation, orientation in space, and Earth's gravity, gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properti ...
'', and, uniquely, in '' geoduck''. is used in Taa for the pharyngealized vowel . is found in many
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s, most commonly for the diphthong . Additionally, in English, represents as in ''neuter'' ( in yod-dropping accents); however, the ''eu'' in "maneuver/manoeuvre" always represents even in most non yod-dropping accents. In German, it represents as in ''Deutsch''; and in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, Dutch, Breton, and Piedmontese, it represents . In Cornish, it represents either long and short or long and short . In
Yale romanization of Cantonese The Yale romanization of Cantonese was developed by Gerard P. Kok for his and Parker Po-fei Huang's textbook ''Speak Cantonese'' initially circulated in looseleaf form in 1952 but later published in 1958. Unlike the Yale romanization of Manda ...
it represents , while in the
Cantonese Romanisation Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, it represents . In Wugniu romanization of
Wu Chinese The Wu languages (; Wu romanization and IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] ( Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' []) is a major group of Sinitic languages spoken primarily in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Provi ...
, it represents sounds ranging from to , depending on the lect. In Sundanese and Acehnese, it represents as in ''beureum'' ('red'). In the
Revised Romanization of Korean Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Mini ...
, it represents . is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for , as in ''jeûne'' . is used in English for as in ''few'' and ''flew''. An exception is the pronunciation in ''sew'', leading to the heteronym ''sewer'',(, 'drain') vs ''sewer'' (, 'one who sews'). In Cornish, it stands for . is used in the Kernowek Standard orthography of Cornish to refer to a sound that can be either or . This distribution can also be written . is used in English for a variety of sounds, including in ''they'', in ''key'', and in ''geyser''. In Faroese, it represents the diphthong . In Cornish, it represents the diphthong or . (a split digraph) indicates an English 'long e', historically but now most commonly realised as . is used for in
Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...
Pe̍h-ōe-jī (; ; ), also sometimes known as the Church Romanization, is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min Chinese, particularly Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien. Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in So ...
.


F

which may be written as the single unit: ff, is used in English and Cornish for the same sound as single , . The doubling is used to indicate that the preceding vowel is (historically) short, or for etymological reasons, in latinisms. Very rarely, may be found word-initially in English, such as in proper names (e.g., Rose ffrench, Jasper Fforde). In
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
, represents , while represents . In Welsh, is considered a distinct letter, and placed between and in alphabetical order. In medieval Breton, vowel nasalisation was represented by a following . This notation was reformed during the 18th century, though proper names retain the former convention, which leads to occasional mispronunciation. For ff as a single unit see:
Typographic ligature In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes or letters are joined to form a single glyph. Examples are the characters æ and œ used in English and French, in which the letters 'a' and 'e' are joined for the first li ...
and Unicode FB00 (U+FB00) in Latin script in Unicode and Unicode equivalence is used in Irish and
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...
for the
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a ...
of . This happens to be silent, so that in Gaelic corresponds to no sound at all. For example, the Irish phrase ('how long') is pronounced , where is the lenited form of ('long'). in used in Nambikwara for a glottalized .


G

is used in Uzbek to represent . is used in some
African languages The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern ...
for a
voiced labial-velar plosive Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to ...
, . is used in languages, such as Xhosa and Zulu, for the click . In Irish, it indicates the
eclipsis Irish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word under specific morphological and syntactic conditions. The mutations are an important to ...
of and represents . is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for before as in ''geôle'' . is used in English for before , and (exampleː ''doggy''). It is also used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
for in languages such as Yi. In
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Alaskan Yup'ik may refer to: * Central Alaskan Yup'ik people * Central Alaskan Yup'ik language Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Direction ...
, it represents . In Greenlandic , it represents . In the ISO romanization of Korean, it is used for the fortis sound , otherwise spelled (e.g. '' ggakdugi''). In Hadza it is ejective . In Italian, before a front vowel represents a geminated , as in ''legge'' . In Piedmontese and Lombard, is an etymological spelling representing an at the end of a word which is the unvoicing of an ancient . is used in several languages. In English, it can be silent or represent or . See article. is used in Vietnamese for in northern dialects and in the southern ones. In Italian, it represents before the non-front vowel letters . is used in Albanian for the voiced palatal plosive , though for Gheg speakers it represents . In the Arbëresh dialect, it represents the
voiced velar plosive The voiced velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. Some languages have the voiced pre-velar plosive, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototyp ...
. In Norwegian and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
represents in words like ''gjorde'' ('did'). In Faroese, it represents . It is also used in the Romanization of Macedonian as a Latin equivalent of Cyrillic . Also, it's used in Friulian to represent (whilst is one of the pronunciations of the letter ⟨z⟩). It can be found in some local orthographies of Lombard to represent derived from Latin ⟨gl⟩. Before the letter Đ was introduced into Gaj's Latin alphabet in 1878, the digraph ⟨gj⟩ had been used instead; and it remained in use till the beginning of the 20th century. is used in Sandawe and the romanization of Thai for ; in Limburgish it represents . Modern Greek uses the equivalent digraph γ κ for , as γ is used for ~ . is used in Italian and some African languages for . is used in English for in a few words of Greek origin, such as ''phlegm'' and ''paradigm.'' Between vowels, it simply represents , as in ''paradigmatic.'' is used in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
, where it represented in the classical period. Latin velar- coronal sequences like this (and also ) underwent a palatal mutation to varying degrees in most Italo-Western
Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language f ...
. For most languages that preserve the spelling (such as Italian and
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
), it represents a palatal nasal , and is similarly used in
Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, an ...
schemes such as Wugniu for . This was not the case in Dalmatian and the Eastern Romance languages where a different mutation changed the velar component to a
labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. The two common labial articulations are bilabials, articulated using both lips, and labiodentals, articulated with the lower lip against the upper teeth, b ...
as well as the spelling to . :In English, represents initially (see /gn/ reduction) and finally (i.e. ''gnome, gnu, benign, sign''). When it appears between two syllables, it represents (e.g. ''signal''). In Norwegian and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, represents in monosyllabic words like ''agn'', and between two syllables, ''tegne''. Initially, it represents , e.g. Swedish ''gnista'' . was used in several Spanish-derived orthographies of the Pacific for . It is one of several variants of the digraph , and is preserved in the name of the town of Sagñay,
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. is used in Piedmontese for . is used in languages, such as Xhosa and Zulu, for the click . In the Taa language, it represents . is used in Xhosa for . is used in English, Spanish,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, Portuguese and
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
for before front vowels ( in English and French) where a "soft g" pronunciation (English ; Spanish ; French, Portuguese and Catalan ) would otherwise occur. In English, it can also be used to represent . In the Ossete Latin alphabet, it is used for . is used in Spanish and
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
for before front vowels where the digraph would otherwise represent . is used for in Standard Zhuang and in Bouyei. In the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages it is used for the labialized fricative . is used in various languages for , and in
Dene Suline Chipewyan or Denesuline (ethnonym: ), often simply called Dene, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. Dënësųłinë́ has nearly 12,000 ...
it represents . , capital (or ), is used in
Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),
for (in Alaska); in Canada, this sound is represented by . is used in languages, such as Xhosa and Zulu, for the click . In
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
, it is an unofficial surrogate of , which represents . is used in Hungarian for a voiced palatal plosive . In Hungarian, the letter's name is ''gyé.'' It is considered a single letter, and
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in '' NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, a ...
s keep the digraph intact. The letter appears frequently in Hungarian words, such as the word for "Hungarian" itself: ''magyar''. In the old orthography of Bouyei, it was used for . is used in Juǀʼhoan for the
voiced alveolar click The voiced (post)alveolar click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phone ...
. is used in Juǀʼhoan for the voiced dental click . is used in Juǀʼhoan for the voiced lateral click . is used in Juǀʼhoan for the voiced palatal click .


H

is used in Xhosa to write the murmured glottal fricative , though this is often written ''h.'' In the Iraqw language, ''hh'' is the
voiceless epiglottal fricative The voiceless epiglottal or pharyngeal trill, or voiceless epiglottal fricative,John Esling (2010) "Phonetic Notation", in Hardcastle, Laver & Gibbon (eds) ''The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences'', 2nd ed., p 695. is a type of consonantal sound, us ...
, and in Chipewyan it is a velar/uvular . In Esperanto orthography, it is an official surrogate of , which represents . is used in the Italian dialect of Albanian for . In Faroese, it represents either or , and in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, it represents . In Icelandic it is used to denote . is used for or in various alphabets, such as the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong () and Icelandic (). See also reduction of Old English /hl/. is used in the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, where it represents the sound . is used in the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, where it represents the sound . It is also used in Icelandic to denote the same phoneme. See also reduction of Old English /hn/. is used for in Bouyei. In Icelandic it is used for . See also reduction of Old English /hr/. is used in the Wade-Giles transcription of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
for the sound , equivalent to
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
''x.'' is used primarily in the Classical Nahuatl language, in which it represents the sound before a vowel; for example, ''Wikipedia'' in Nahuatl is written ''Huiquipedia''. After a vowel, is used. In the Ossete Latin alphabet, ''hu'' was used for , similar to French ''roi.'' The sequence ''hu'' is also found in Spanish words such as ''huevo'' or ''hueso;'' however, in Spanish this is not a digraph but a simple sequence of silent ''h'' and the vowel ''u.'' is used Faroese and Icelandic for (often ), generally in
wh-words An interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as ''what, which'', ''when'', ''where'', ''who, whom, whose'', ''why'', ''whether'' and ''how''. They are sometimes called wh-words, because in English most of ...
, but also in other words, such as Faroese ''hvonn''. In the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages it is used for the supposed fricative . is used in modern editions of Old English for , originally spelled or (the latter with the wynn letter). In its descendants in modern English, it is now spelled (see there for more details). It is used in some orthographies of Cornish for . is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
for in languages such as Yi ( alone represents the fricative ), and in Nambikwara it is a glottalized . In Esperanto orthography, it is an unofficial surrogate of , which represents . is used in Hepburn romanization of the
Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
to transcribe the sound , which is the syllable ''hi'' before a ''y''-vowel, such as ''hya'', ''hyu'', and ''hyo'', which appear in Chinese loanwords.


I

is used in Taa to represent the glottalized or creaky vowel . is used in Irish for the diphthong . is used in English, where it usually represents the sound as in ''pries'' and ''allied'' or the sound as in ''priest'' and ''rallied''. Followed by an ''r'', these vowels follow the standard changes to and , as in ''brier'' and ''bier''. Unique pronunciations are in ''sieve'', in ''friend'' and in ''lingerie''. Unstressed it can represent , as in ''spaniel'' and ''conscience'', or or as in ''mischief'' and ''hurriedly''. It also can represent many vowel combinations, including in ''diet'' and ''client'', in ''diester'' and ''quiescent'', in ''alien'' and ''skier'', in ''oriental'' and ''hygienic'', and in British ''medieval''. :In Dutch and
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
, represents the tense vowel . In German, it may represent the lengthened vowel as in ''Liebe'' (love) as well as the vowel combination as in ''Belgien'' (Belgium). In Latvian and
Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...
, the is considered two letters for all purposes and represents , commonly (although less precisely) transcribed as . In
Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Malte ...
, is a distinct letter and represents a long
close front unrounded vowel The close front unrounded vowel, or high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound that occurs in most spoken languages, represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by the symbol i. It is similar to the vowel sound in the English ...
, or . In
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
it is used to write the vowel in languages such as Yi, where ''e'' stands for . In Old English was one of the common diphthongs, the umlauted version of "ea" and "eo". Its value is not entirely clear, and in Middle English it had become /e/. is used in
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
for . is used in
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
for in the coda. , is used in Taa to represent the breathy or
murmured Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...
vowel . It is also used in Tongyong Pinyin and Wade-Giles transcription for the fricative vowels of Mandarin Chinese, which are spelled ''i'' in
Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
. is used in many languages such as Finnish (example:Riikka, Niinistö, Siitala, Riikkeli), Italian (example:Riina), Estonian (example:Riik), Scots (example:Auld Nii, Iisay), with phonemic long vowels for . is used in Dutch for . See article. is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for , historically , as in ''ail'' "garlic". is used in Portuguese for . is used in Portuguese for before a consonant. is used in many languages to write a nasal vowel. In Portuguese before a consonant, and in many
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...
n languages, it is , while in French it is . is used in Portuguese for before a consonant. is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
to write a vowel sound that was once followed by a historical ''s'', as in ''vous vîntes'' "you came". is used in
Lakhota Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. Lakota is mutually intelligible with the two dialects of the Dakota language, especially Western Dakota, and ...
for the nasal vowel . is used in Irish for , , and between a slender and a broad consonant. is used in Irish for between a slender and a broad consonant. is used in Taa to represent the pharyngealized vowel . is used in Irish for between a slender and a broad consonant. In Mandarin
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
, it is after a consonant. (In initial position, this is spelled ''you.'') is used in Irish for between a slender and a broad consonant. is used in
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
and Cornish for the diphthong or . is used in
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
for (Eastern Catalan) or (Western Catalan) after a vowel. (a split digraph) indicates an English 'long i', historically but now most commonly realised as .


J

is used in Walloon to write a consonant that is variously , or , depending on the dialect. In Tongyong pinyin, it represents , written ''zh'' in standard pinyin. ''Jh'' is also the standard transliteration for the
Devanāgarī Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...
letter झ . In
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
, it is an official surrogate of , which represents . is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
for in languages such as Yi. In romanized Korean, it represents the fortis sound . In Hadza it is ejective . is used as a letter of the Seri alphabet, where it represents a
labialized Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involv ...
velar fricative, . It is placed between J and L in alphabetical order. is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for . is used in
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
as an unofficial surrogate of , which represents .


K

is used for in southern African languages such as Setswana and Sotho. For instance, the Kalahari is spelled ''Kgalagadi'' in Setswana. , in transcriptions of Indo-Aryan and
Dravidian languages The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant i ...
, represents the aspirated
voiceless velar plosive The voiceless velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k. The sound is a ve ...
(). For most other languages, it represents the
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''l ...
, for example in transcriptions of the letter () in standard Arabic, standard Persian, and Urdu, Cyrillic '' Х'', ''х'' (kha), Spanish ''j'', as well as the Hebrew letter kaf () in instances when it is lenited. When used for transcription of the letter () in Sephardic Hebrew, it represents the voiceless pharyngeal fricative . In Canadian
Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),
it represents , which in Alaska is written ''k.'' In the Ossete Latin alphabet, it was used for . is used
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
and Norwegian for or . See also . In Faroese, it represents . is used in romanized Korean for the
fortis Fortis may refer to: Business * Fortis AG, a Swiss watch company * Fortis Films, an American film and television production company founded by actress and producer Sandra Bullock * Fortis Healthcare, a chain of hospitals in India * Fortis Inc ...
sound , in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for ejective , and in Cypriot Arabic for . is used in Zulu to write a sound variously realized as or . is used in Yélî Dnye doubly articulated and nasally released . is used in English to write the word-initial sound ( formerly pronounced /kn/) in some words of Germanic origin, such as ''knee'' and ''knife.'' It is used in Yélî Dnye for nasally released . is used as a letter in some
African languages The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern ...
, where it represents a voiceless labial-velar plosive . is used in Xhosa for . is used in Cornish for either or . is used in Purépecha for . It also had that value in the Ossete Latin alphabet. is used for in some dialects of Zhuang. is used in various languages for the labialized velar consonant , and in
Dene Suline Chipewyan or Denesuline (ethnonym: ), often simply called Dene, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. Dënësųłinë́ has nearly 12,000 ...
(Chipewyan) for . Used informally in English for phonemic spelling of '' qu'', as in ''
kwik Kwik (german: Quicka) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Pisz, within Pisz County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately north of Pisz and east of the regional capital Olsztyn. It is located ...
'' (from ''quick''), ultimately from
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
. is used in Alaskan
Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),
for , which in Canada is written '' khw.'' in used in Nambikwara for a glottalized , and in Juǀʼhoan for the ejective . is used in Tibetan Pinyin for . is used in
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
for , equivalent to Polish .


L

, in Occitan, Gallo, and Portuguese, represents a palatal lateral approximant . In many
Indigenous languages of the Americas Over a thousand indigenous languages are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large num ...
it represents a
voiceless alveolar lateral fricative The voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiceless dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral fricatives is , ...
. In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages it represents a dental lateral, . In the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
, initial indicates an even tone on a syllable beginning in , which is otherwise spelled . In
Middle Welsh Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen ...
it was sometimes used to represent the sound as well as , in
modern Welsh The history of the Welsh language (Welsh: ''Hanes yr iaith Gymraeg'') spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. Origins Welsh evolved from British, the ...
it has been replaced by . In Tibetan, it represents the voiceless alveolar lateral approximant , as in ''
Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...
''. is a letter in some
Slavic language The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the E ...
s, such as the Latin orthographies of
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
, where it represents a palatal lateral approximant . For example, the word ''ljiljan'' is pronounced . Ljudevit Gaj first used the digraph in 1830; he devised it by analogy with a Cyrillic digraph, which developed into the ligature . In
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
it represents /j/ such as in Ljus. :The sound is written in Italian, in Castilian Spanish and Catalan as , in Portuguese as , in some Hungarian dialects as , and in Latvian as . In Czech and Slovak, it is often transcribed as ; it is used more frequently in the latter language. While there are dedicated Unicode codepoints, U+01C7 (LJ), U+01C8 (Lj) and U+01C9 (lj), these are included for backwards compatibility (with legacy encodings for Serbo-Croatian which kept a one-to-one correspondence with Cyrillic Љљ) and modern texts use a sequence of Basic Latin characters. and are used in several languages. See article. is used in Asturian for a sound that was historically but which is now an affricate, . is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for . is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated . is used for in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
. in used in Nambikwara for a glottalized . is used in Hungarian. See article.


M

, in many
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, represents or . It is used in Irish to indicate the
eclipsis Irish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word under specific morphological and syntactic conditions. The mutations are an important to ...
of and represents ; for example 'our boat' (cf. 'boat'). The Irish digraph is capitalized mB, for example 'in Dublin'. In English, ''mb'' represents when final, as in ''lamb'' (see reduction of /mb/). In Standard Zhuang and in Bouyei, is used for . is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated and prenasalized . , in many
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, represents or . is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
for in languages such as Yi, where the more common digraph is restricted to . It is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated and prenasalized . , in Irish, stands for the
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a ...
of and represents or ; for example or 'my mother' (cf. 'mother'). In
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
it stands for the
nasal mutation The morphology of the Welsh language has many characteristics likely to be unfamiliar to speakers of English or continental European languages like French or German, but has much in common with the other modern Insular Celtic languages: Irish, Scott ...
of and represents the
voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
; for example 'my head' (cf. 'head'). In both languages it is considered a sequence of the two letters and for purposes of alphabetization. In Shona, Juǀʼhoan and several other languages, it is used for a
murmured Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...
. In the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
, initial ''mh-'' indicates an even tone on a syllable beginning in , which is otherwise spelled ''m-.'' In several languages, such as
Gogo Go go or Gogo may refer to: Geography * Ghogha, India, a town once also known as Gogo * Gogo, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso, a town * Gogo, Zoundwéogo, Burkina Faso, a city * Gogo Department, a department in central Burkina Faso * Gogo Formatio ...
, it's a voiceless . is used in the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, where it represents the sound . is used in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for glottalized . It is used in Cornish for an optionally pre-occluded ; that is, it is pronounced either or (in any position); (before a consonant or finally); or (before a vowel); examples are ('mother') or ('this'). is used in English to write the word-initial sound in a few words of Greek origin, such as ''mnemonic.'' When final, it represents , as in ''damn'' or as in ''hymn'', and between vowels it represents /m/ as in ''damning'', or as in ''damnation'' (see /mn/-reduction). In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
it represents , as in and . , in many
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, represents or . Modern Greek uses the equivalent digraph μ π for , as β is used for . In Mpumpong of
Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...
, is a plain . is used in Juǀʼhoan for a pharyngealized or perhaps creaky . is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated and prenasalized . , in many
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, represents or . is used for in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
. is used in Nambikwara for a glottalized .


N

is used in Xhosa and Shona for . Since is not a letter in either language, is not technically a digraph. is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
for in languages such as Yi. It is also used in Fula in Guinea for (written as mb in other countries). is used in various alphabets. In the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, it represents the sound . In
Tharaka Tharaka () was a mythological king from Sri Lanka. According to legend, he designed the craft " Dandu Monara", which was able to fly, but he was unable to build it. Instead the king Ravana built it, and stories from Ramayana tell of him using it ...
it is . In Xhosa and Zulu it represents the click . , in many
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, represents or , and capitalized . It is used in Irish for the
eclipsis Irish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word under specific morphological and syntactic conditions. The mutations are an important to ...
of , and represents , for example in ''ár ndoras'' "our door" (cf. ''doras'' "door"). In this function it is capitalized , e.g. ''i nDoire'' "in
Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. Th ...
". In Standard Zhuang and in Bouyei, is used for . , equivalent to for or . In Rangi ''nf'' is while ''mf'' is . , in
Sino-Tibetan languages Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
, as in English and several other
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
an and derived orthographies (for example Vietnamese), generally represents the
velar nasal The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''Englis ...
. It is considered a single letter in many Austronesian languages ( Māori,
Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...
, Tongan, Gilbertese, Tuvaluan,
Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesia ...
, Chamorro),
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
, and Rheinische Dokumenta, for
velar nasal The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''Englis ...
; and in some
African languages The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern ...
(
Lingala Lingala (Ngala) (Lingala: ''Lingála'') is a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser degree ...
, Bambara, Wolof) for prenasalized (). :For the development of the pronunciation of this digraph in English, see
NG-coalescence The phonological history of the English language includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters. H-cluster reductions The H-cluster reductions are various consonant reductions that have occurred in the history of English, ...
and G-dropping. : Finnish uses the digraph 'ng' to denote the phonemically long
velar nasal The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''Englis ...
in contrast to 'nk' , which is its "strong" form under consonant gradation, a type of
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a ...
. Weakening produces an archiphonemic "velar fricative", which, as a velar fricative does not exist in Standard Finnish, is assimilated to the preceding , producing . (No is involved at any point, despite the spelling 'ng'.) The digraph 'ng' is not an independent letter, but it is an exception to the phonemic principle, one of the few in standard Finnish. :In Irish ''ng'' is used word-initially as the
eclipsis Irish, like all modern Celtic languages, is characterized by its initial consonant mutations. These mutations affect the initial consonant of a word under specific morphological and syntactic conditions. The mutations are an important to ...
of and represents , e.g. ''ár ngalar'' "our illness" (cf. ). In this function it is capitalized ''nG'', e.g. ''i'' nG''aillimh'' "in Galway". :In Tagalog and other
Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages ...
, ''ng'' represented the prenasalized sequence during the Spanish era. The velar nasal, , was written in a variety of ways, namely "n͠g", "ñg", "gñ" (as in Sagñay), and—after a vowel—at times "g̃". During the standardization of Tagalog in the early part of the 20th century, ''ng'' became used for the velar nasal , while prenasalized came to be written '' ngg.'' Furthermore, ''ng'' is also used for a common
genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...
particle pronounced , to differentiate it from an adverbial particle ''nang.'' :In Uzbek, it is considered as a separate letter, being the last (twenty-ninth) letter of the Uzbek alphabet. It is followed by the
apostrophe The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes: * The marking of the omission of one ...
(''tutuq belgisi''). is used in
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Alaskan Yup'ik may refer to: * Central Alaskan Yup'ik people * Central Alaskan Yup'ik language Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Direction ...
to write the voiceless nasal sound . , or more precisely , was a digraph in several Spanish-derived orthographies of the Pacific, such as
Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...
and Chamorro, where it represented the sound , as opposed to ''ng'', which originally represented . An example is Chamorro ''agan͠gñáijon'' (modern ''agangñaihon)'' "to declare". Besides ''ñg'', variants of ''n͠g'' include ''gñ'' (as in Sagñay), ''ng̃'', and a ''g̃'', that is preceded by a vowel (but not a consonant). It has since been replaced by the trigraph or (see above). is used for in Swahili and languages with Swahili-based orthographies. Since is not a letter in Swahili, is technically a digraph, not a trigraph. is used in several languages. See article. in Polish, it usually represents whenever it precedes a vowel, and whenever it precedes a consonant (or in the end of the word), and is considered a graphic variant of ń appearing in other situations. (In some cases it may represent also before a vowel; for a better description, when, see the relevant section in the article on Polish orthography). is a letter in the Latin orthographies of Albanian,
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
. Ljudevit Gaj, a Croat, first used this digraph in 1830. In all of these languages, it represents the palatal nasal . For example, the Croatian and Serbian word ''konj'' (''horse'') is pronounced . The digraph was created in the 19th century by analogy with a digraph of Cyrillic, which developed into the ligature . While there are dedicated Unicode codepoints, U+01CA (NJ), U+01CB (Nj) and U+01CC (nj), these are included for backwards compatibility (with legacy encodings for Serbo-Croatian which kept a one-to-one correspondence with Cyrillic Њњ) and modern texts use a sequence of Basic Latin characters. :In Faroese, it generally represents , although in some words it represent , like in ''banjo''. It is also used in some languages of
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
where it represents a prenazalized voiced postalveolar affricate or
fricative A fricative is a consonant manner of articulation, produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two Place of articulation, articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the ba ...
, or . In Malagasy, it represents . :Other letters and digraphs of the
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...
used for spelling this sound are (in Polish), (in Czech and Slovakian), (in Spanish), (in Portuguese and Occitan), (in Italian and
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
), and (in Hungarian, among others). is used in many
Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. T ...
like
Lingala Lingala (Ngala) (Lingala: ''Lingála'') is a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser degree ...
, Tshiluba, and Kikongo, for or . In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages such as
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and Pitjantjatjara, it distinguishes a prenasalized velar stop, , from the nasal . is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated . is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated . is used in Irish for the
Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writte ...
" fortis sonorants" ("broad", i.e. non-palatalized or velarized) and ("slender", i.e. palatalized) in non-initial position. In modern Irish, the "broad" sound is , while the slender sound can be any of , , or , depending on dialect and position in the word. In Spanish historical has contracted to the ligature and represents the sound . In the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
, final ''-nn'' indicates a falling tone on a syllable ending in , which is otherwise spelled ''-n.'' It is used in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for glottalized . In Piedmontese, it is in the middle of a word, and at the end. In Cornish, it is used for an optionally pre-occluded ; that is, it is pronounced either or (in any position); (before a consonant or finally); or (before a vowel); examples are ''penn'' ('head') or ''pennow'' ('heads'). is used in the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, where it represents the sound . is used in various alphabets. In the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, it represents the sound . In Xhosa and Zulu it represents the click . In the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
, final ''-nq'' indicates a falling tone on a syllable ending in , which is otherwise spelled ''-ng.'' is used in the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, where it represents the sound . In the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages it is . , in many
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, represents or . is a letter present in many
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
where it represents or . Modern Greek uses the equivalent digraph ν τ for , as δ is used for . , equivalent to for or . is used in Igbo for , and in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
for . is used for the click in Xhosa and Zulu, and in Nambikwara for a glottalized . is used in several languages for . See article. , in many
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n
languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
, represents ~ , ~ , ~ , or ~ . is used in Juǀʼhoan for the
alveolar nasal click The alveolar nasal click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is or ; a symbol abandoned by the IPA but still preferred by som ...
. is used in Juǀʼhoan for the dental nasal click . is used in Juǀʼhoan for the lateral nasal click . is used in Juǀʼhoan for the palatal nasal click . is used for medial in Piedmontese.


Ŋ

⟨ŋm⟩, a letter was used in
Anii The Anii or Basila language (''Bassila, Baseca,'' also known as ''Oji-Ouji, Ouinji-Ouinji, Winji-Winji,'' though this is derogatory) is spoken in Benin, and central eastern Togo and central eastern Ghana. It is part of the geographic group of ...
.


O

is used for and in Uzbek, with the preferred typographical form being (Cyrillic ). Technically it is not a digraph in Uzbek, since is not a letter of the Uzbek alphabet, but rather a typographic convention for a diacritic. In handwriting the letter is written as . It is also used in Taa, for the glottalized or creaky vowel . is used in English, where it commonly represents the sound as in ''road'', ''coal'', ''boast'', ''coaxing'', etc. In
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
, where the digraph originated, it represented , a pronunciation retained in the word ''broad'' and derivatives, and when the digraph is followed by an "r", as in ''soar'' and '' bezoar''. The letters also represent two vowels, as in ''koala'' , '' boas'' , '' coaxial'' , ''oasis'' , and ''doable'' . In Malagasy, it is occasionally used for . is found in many
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. In English, it represents the sound as in ''hoe'' and sometimes the sound as in ''shoe''. It may also represent the sound in AmE pronunciation of '' Oedipus'', ''(o)esophagus'' (also in
BrE British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
), and ''(o)estrogen'', in ''boehmite'' (AmE) and surnames like ''
Boehner John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. represen ...
'' and '' Groening'' (as if spelled ''Bayner'' and ''Gray/Greyning'' respectively), and in ''foetus'' (BrE and CoE) and some speakers' pronunciation of ''Oedipus'' and ''oestrogen''.
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
and Dutch ''oe'' is , as in ''doen''; it also represented the same phoneme in the
Indonesian language Indonesian ( ) is the official language, official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standard language, standardized variety (linguistics), variety of Malay language, Malay, an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that has be ...
before the 1972 spelling reform. Ligatured to in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, it stands for the vowels (as in ) and (as in ). It is an alternative way to write or in German or Scandinavian languages when this character is unavailable. In Cantonese Pinyin it represents the vowel , while in the
Jyutping Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates f ...
romanisation of
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
it represents , and in Zhuang it is used for ( is used for ). In Piedmontese, it is . In the Kernewek Kemmyn orthography of Cornish, it is used for a phoneme which is long, mid-length, and short. is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
to write the vowel sound in a few words before what had historically been an ''s'', mostly in words derived from ' "stove". The diacriticless variant, , rarely represents this sound except in words related to ' (rarely spelt ). is used in
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
for the vowel . is used in Portuguese for . It is used in plural forms of some words ended in , such as '' anão–anões'' and '' campeão–campeões.'' is used in Taa, for the breathy or
murmured Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...
vowel . is used in various
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. In English, ''oi'' represents the sound as in ''coin'' and ''join''. In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, it represents , which was historically – and still is in some cases – written "oy." In Irish it is used for between a broad and a slender consonant. In Piedmontese, it is . is used in Irish for between a broad and a slender consonant. is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
to write before what had historically been an ''s'', as in ''boîtier'' or ''cloître.'' is used in Irish for between a broad and a slender consonant. is used in Piedmontese for . is used in Portuguese for , and in French to write . is used in
Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...
for before a consonant. is used in Portuguese for before a consonant, and in French to write . is used in Portuguese for before a consonant. is used in Tibetan Pinyin for . It is alternately written oin. is used in many
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. In English, ''oo'' commonly represents sounds which historically descend from the Middle English pronunciation . After the
Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...
, this came to typically represent as in "m''oo''n" and "f''oo''d". Subsequently, in a handful of common words like "g''oo''d" and "fl''oo''d" the vowel was shortened to /u/, and after the Middle English – split, these became and respectively. Like in
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
, the digraph's pronunciation is in most other languages. In German and Dutch, the digraph represents . In Cornish, it represents either or . Is used in Taa,for the pharyngealized vowel . , in Daighi tongiong pingim, represents
mid central vowel The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , a rotated lowercase letter e. While the ''Handbook of the ...
or close-mid back rounded vowel in
Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/ Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 7 ...
.董峰政, "Taiwanese Tong-iong Pingim Dictionary", 臺南市寧南語言文化協會, Tainan City, Jul 2006. is used in English for the
diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
, as in ''out'' . This spelling is generally used before consonants, with being used instead before vowels and at the ends of words. Occasionally ''ou'' may also represent other vowels – as in ''trouble'', as in ''soul'', as in ''would'', as in ''group'', or as in the alternate American pronunciation of ''coupon''. The ''ou'' in ''out'' originally represented , as in French, and its pronunciation has mostly changed as part of the
Great Vowel Shift The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through ...
. However, the sound was kept before p. In Dutch represents in the Netherlands or in Flanders. In Cornish, it represents , , or . In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, it represents the
vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (l ...
, as in ''vous'' "you", or the
approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a ...
, as in ''oui'' "yes". In Portuguese this digraph stands for the close-mid back rounded vowel or for the falling
diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
, according to dialect. is used In Hepburn romanization of the
Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
to transcribe the sound . is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
to write the vowel sound before what had historically been an ''s'', as in ''soûl'' "drunk" (also spelt ''soul''). , in English, usually represents the sound as in ''coward'', ''sundowner'', and ''now'' or the sound, as in ''froward'', ''landowner'', and ''know''. An exceptional pronunciation is in ''knowledge'' and '' rowlock''. There are many English heteronyms distinguished only by the pronunciation of this digraph, like: ''bow'' (front of ship or weapon), ''bower'' (a dwelling or string player), ''lower'' (to frown or drop), ''mow'' (to grimace or cut), ''row'' (a dispute or line-up), ''shower'' (rain or presenter), ''sow'' (a pig or to seed), ''tower'' (a building or towboat). In Cornish, this represents the diphthong or ; before vowels, it can also represent . is used in the Kernowek Standard orthography of Cornish to refer to a sound that can be either or . This distribution can also be written . is found in many
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. In English and Faroese, oy represents the diphthong . Examples in English include ''toy'' and ''annoy''. In Cornish, it represents the diphthong ; in the words ''oy'' ('egg') and ''moy'' ('much'), it can also be pronounced . is an obsolete digraph once used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
. is used in Norwegian for . (a split digraph) indicates an English 'long o', historically but now most commonly realised as .


P

in German represents a labial affricate . It can be initial (''Pferd'', 'horse'), medial (''Apfel'', 'apple'), or final (''Knopf'', 'button'). Where it appears in English, usually in names or words recently derived from German, it is ordinarily simplified to such as
Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfize ...
. , in English and some other languages, represents , mostly in words derived from
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
. The Ancient Greek letter phi originally represented (an aspirated ''p'' sound), and was thus transcribed into
Latin orthography Latin phonology continually evolved over the centuries, making it difficult for speakers in one era to know how Latin was spoken before then. A given phoneme may be represented by different letters in different periods. This article deals prima ...
as , a convention that was transferred to some other Western European languages. The Greek pronunciation of later changed to /f/, and this was also the sound adopted in other languages for the relevant loanwords. Exceptionally, in English, represents in the name ''
Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...
'' and some speakers' pronunciations of '' nephew''. In Irish and
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
it reprsents the
Lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a ...
/
Aspirate mutation Consonant mutation is change in a consonant in a word according to its morphological or syntactic environment. Mutation occurs in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of a ...
of . is used in the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, where it represents the sound . is used for in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
. is used in English for an initial sound in words of Greek origin such as ''pneumatic.'' When not initial, it represents the sequence , as in ''apnea.'' is used in romanized Korean for the fortis sound , and in Cypriot Arabic for . is used in English for an initial sound in words of Greek origin such as ''psyche.'' When not initial, it represents the sequence , as in ''ellipse.'' It is also used in Shona to write a whistled sibilant cluster . is used in several languages for in words of Greek origin, where it was . An example in English is ''
pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cre ...
'' , and an exception is ''ptarmigan'' , which is Gaelic, not Greek. When not initial, ''pt'' represents the sequence , as in ''apt.'' is used for in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
. is used in Cypriot Arabic for .


Q

is used to write the click in Naro. It was used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the voiceless alveolar click . is used in various alphabets. In Quechua and the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, it represents the sound . In Xhosa, it represents the click . was used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the voiceless alveolar click (equivalent to ). is used in Piedmontese for . is used in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for ejective . In Hadza it is the glottalized click . is used in
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, Galician, Occitan, Portuguese and Spanish for before the vowel letters ''e, i'', where the letter ''c'' represents the sound (
Castilian Spanish In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish langua ...
and most of
Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...
) or (
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, American Spanish, Occitan and Portuguese). This dates to
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
''qu'', and ultimately the
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
labialized velar consonant ; in English this sound instead became written primarily as ''wh'', due to Grimm's law changing > (written ''hw''), and Middle English spelling change switching ''hw'' to ''wh''. In English, it represents in words derived from those languages (e.g., '' quiche''), and in other words, including borrowings from Latin (e.g., '' quantity''). In German, where the /w/ sound evolved into /v/, it is used to represent /kv/ in both native Germanic words and Latin borrowings. In the Ossete Latin alphabet, it was used for . In Vietnamese it is used to represent the or sound. In Cornish, it represents the sound. is used for glottalized in Bouyei. is used in some languages for the sound . In Mi'kmaq it is used for . In the Kernowek Standard and
Standard Written Form The Standard Written Form or SWF ( kw, Furv Skrifys Savonek) of the Cornish language is an orthography standard that is designed to "provide public bodies and the educational system with a universally acceptable, inclusive, and neutral orthograph ...
orthographies for Revived Cornish, and in William Jordan's 1611 ''Creation of the World'', it is used for . is used for glottalized in Bouyei.


R

is used in the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages such as
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and Pitjantjatjara for a retroflex stop, . In Norwegian and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
it represents voiced retroflex plosive, . is used in English for
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
words
transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...
through
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
. Examples include "rhapsody", "rhetoric" and "rhythm". These were pronounced in Ancient Greek with a
voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
"r" sound, , as in Old English . The digraph may also be found within words, but always at the start of a word component, e.g., "polyrhythmic". German,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, and
Interlingua Interlingua (; ISO 639 language codes ia, ina) is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951 by the American International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). It ranks among the most widely used IALs and is ...
use ''rh'' in the same way. is also found in
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
where it represents a voiceless alveolar trill (), that is a voiceless "r" sound. It can be found anywhere; the most common occurrence in English from Welsh is in the slightly respelled given name "Rhonda". In Wade-Giles transliteration, is used for the syllable-final rhotic of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
. In the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization of
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
, initial ''rh-'' indicates an even tone on a syllable beginning in , which is otherwise spelled ''r-.'' In Purépecha, it is a
retroflex flap The voiced retroflex flap is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r`. Features Features of the voice ...
, . is used in the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages such as
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and Pitjantjatjara, as well in Norwegian and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, for a retroflex lateral, written in the
IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioner ...
. In Greenlandic, it represents as the result of an assimilation of a consonant cluster with a uvular consonant as the first component. is used in Inuktitut for . represents the retroflex nasal in
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and Pitjantjatjara (see transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages), as well in Norwegian and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
. In Greenlandic, it represents . In Inuktitut, it represents . is used in Greenlandic for as the result of an assimilation of a consonant cluster with a uvular consonant as the first component. is used in English for . It normally appears in words of
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
or Romance origin, and "rrh" in words of ancient
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
origin. It is quite a common digraph. Some words with "rr" are relatively recent
loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...
s from other languages; examples include '' burro'' from Spanish. It is often used in impromptu pronunciation guides to denote either an
alveolar tap Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * M ...
or an alveolar trill. It is a letter in the
Albanian alphabet The Albanian alphabet ( sq, alfabeti shqip) is a variant of the Latin alphabet used to write the Albanian language. It consists of 36 letters: ''Note:'' The vowels are shown in bold. The letters are named simply by their sounds, followed by ë ...
. In several European languages, such as
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
, Spanish, Portuguese or Albanian, "rr" represents the alveolar trill (or the voiced uvular fricative in Portuguese) and contrasts with the single "r", which represents the
alveolar tap Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * M ...
(in Catalan and Spanish a single "r" also represents the alveolar trill at the beginning of words or syllables). In Italian and Finnish, "rr" is a
geminated In phonetics and phonology, gemination (), or consonant lengthening (from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct fr ...
(long) consonant . In
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Alaskan Yup'ik may refer to: * Central Alaskan Yup'ik people * Central Alaskan Yup'ik language Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Direction ...
it is used for . In Cornish, it can represent either , , or . was equivalent to and stood for (modern '' ř'') in medieval Czech. In Greenlandic, it represents as the result of an assimilation of a consonant cluster with a uvular consonant as the first component. In Norwegian and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, it represents voiceless retroflex fricative, . is used in Australian Aboriginal languages such as
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and Pitjantjatjara, as well in Norwegian and
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, for a retroflex stop . is used for in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
. is used in Polish and
Kashubian Kashubian can refer to: * Pertaining to Kashubia, a region of north-central Poland * Kashubians, an ethnic group of north-central Poland * Kashubian language See also *Kashubian alphabet The Kashubian or Cassubian alphabet (''kaszëbsczi alf ...
for a voiced retroflex fricative , similar to English '' zh'' as in ''Zhivago''. Examples from Polish are ' "March" and ' "river". represents the same sound as , but they have a different origin. used to be pronounced the same way as Czech () in older Polish, but the sounds merged, and the
orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mo ...
still follows etymology. When preceded by a
voiceless consonant In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies ...
(''ch'', ''k'', ''p'', ''t'') or end of a word, devoices to , as in ' ("before", ).


S

is used in Italian for before the front vowel letters ''e, i''. It is used for in Catalan, Spanish, French, English, Occitan and Brazilian Portuguese (e.g. French/English ''reminiscence'', Spanish ''reminiscencia'', Brazilian Portuguese ''reminiscência'', Catalan ''reminiscència'', Occitan ''reminiscéncia''); in European Portuguese this changed to in the early 20th century, although in careful speech it can be . However, it represents in modern pronunciations of ''crescent'' in British and non-
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Commonwealth English The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British colonisation, with some exceptions. English serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations. Many ...
. In Old English it usually represented . is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for in a few verb forms such as simple past ''acquiesça'' . It is also used in Portuguese as in the imperative/conjunctive form of verbs ending with ''scer'': ''crescer'' ''cresça''. Still pronounced in
Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...
, in
European Portuguese European Portuguese ( pt, português europeu, ), also known as Portuguese of Portugal ( Portuguese: português de Portugal), Iberian Portuguese ( Portuguese: português ibérico), and Peninsular Portuguese ( Portuguese: português peninsular), re ...
this changed to in the early 20th cent.ury, although in careful speech it can be is used in Piedmontese for . is used in several languages. In English, it represents . See separate article. See also ſh
below Below may refer to: *Earth * Ground (disambiguation) * Soil * Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) * Less than *Temperatures below freezing * Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fr ...
, which has the capitalized forms SH and ŞH. is used in English for in words such as ''fusion'' (see yod-coalescence). In Polish, it represents whenever it precedes a vowel, and whenever it precedes a consonant (or in the end of the word), and is considered a graphic variant of ś appearing in other situations. In
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
is used for the sound as in ''siocled'' ('chocolate'). is used
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
to write the ''sje'' sound (see also ) and in Faroese, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch to write
Voiceless postalveolar fricative A voiceless postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term ''voiceless postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound , but it also describes the voiceless ...
. is used in
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
to write the ''sje'' sound . It takes by rule this sound value before the front vowels (''e, i, y, ä'' and ''ö'') word or root initially (as in ''sked'' (spoon)), while normally representing in other positions. In Norwegian and Faroese, it is used to write
voiceless postalveolar fricative A voiceless postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term ''voiceless postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound , but it also describes the voiceless ...
(only in front of ''i'', ''y'', ''ei'' and ''øy''/''oy''). is used in Iraqw and Bouyei to write the
lateral fricative A lateral is a consonant in which the airstream proceeds along one or both of the sides of the tongue, but it is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth. An example of a lateral consonant is the English ''L'', as in ''Larr ...
. ''(Sl'' is used in the French tradition to transcribe in other languages as well, as in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages.) is used in German for as in ''Spaß'' instead of using schp. is used in Kosraean for . is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
for in languages such as Yi. For its use in the Wade–Giles system of Romanization of Chinese, see Wade–Giles → Syllabic consonants. In English, typically represents in the first ''ss'' of ''possess'' and its derivatives ''possessed'', ''possesses'', ''possession'', ''possessive'' and '' possessor'', ''brassiere'', ''dessert'', ''dissolution'' and its derivatives ''dissolved'', ''dissolves'' and ''dissolving'', '' Missoula (
County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
)'', ''
Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
(an)'', ''scissors'', and pronunciations of ''
Aussie Aussie is Australian slang for ''Australian'', both the adjective and the noun, and less commonly, Australia. Pronunciation In Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, the word is pronounced , hence the alternati ...
'' outside the United States. In other languages, such as
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
, Cornish,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, Italian, Occitan, Portuguese and
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Alaskan Yup'ik may refer to: * Central Alaskan Yup'ik people * Central Alaskan Yup'ik language Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Direction ...
, where transcribes between vowels (and elsewhere in the case of Yup'ik), is used for in that position ( in Italian and also in some cases in Cornish). In romanized Korean, it represents the fortis sound . In Cypriot Arabic it is used for . Also to note, there are spellings of words with as opposed to them with just one , varied in different types of English. For the word ''focus'', in British English the 3rd person singular, the past participle and the present participle are spelled with (i.e. ''focusses'', ''focussed'' and ''focussing'') whereas in American English and usually Canadian and Australian English they are spelled with one (i.e. ''focuses'', ''focused'' and ''focusing''). is used in German for as in ''Stadt'' instead of using scht (or cht). In some parts of northern Germany, the pronunciation (as in English) is still quite common in the local dialect. is used in Shona to write the whistled sibilant . This was written ȿ from 1931 to 1955. in used in Nambikwara for a glottalized , and in Esperanto orthography it is an unofficial surrogate of , that represents . is used to write the sound in Malay and
Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...
. is used in several languages. See article. and are used in Piedmontese for the sequence . and are used in Piedmontese for the sequence .


T

is used for the palatal click in Naro, and to write the affricate in Sandawe, Hadza and Juǀʼhoan. is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for the voiceless dental affricate is used for in Naro. In
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
, it represents . is used in several languages. In English, it can represent , or . See article. See also: Pronunciation of English th. , before a vowel, is usually pronounced in French and in German. is used in Norwegian and Faroese words like ''tjære''/''tjøra'' ('tar') for (Norwegian) and (Faroese). In the closely related Swedish alphabet, it represents , as in ''tjära'' . It is also the standard written form of the sound in Dutch and was likewise used in Dutch-based orthographies that used to apply for languages in Indonesia and Surinam. In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages such as
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
,
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and Pitjantjatjara, it represents a
postalveolar stop Postalveolar or post-alveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the ''back'' of the alveolar ridge. Articulation is farther back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, bu ...
, transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as or depending on voicing. This sound is also written , , , , or . In Catalan it represents . In Juǀʼhoan it is used for the ejective affricate . is used in Juǀʼhoan for the uvularized ejective . is used in various orthographies for the affricate . is used in the transcription of Athabascan languages for a lateral affricate or . is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated and nasally released . In Catalan, it's used to represent , that can result not geminated as well, , as in ''setmana'' (pronounced in standard Catalan and in Valencian). is used for a prestopped nasal in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, and for the similar in Yélî Dnye. is used in Yélî Dnye for doubly articulated . generally represents a sound like a retroflex version of English "ch" in areas of German influence, such as ''Truk'' lagoon, now spelled . For instance, in Malagasy it represents . In southern
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...
s of Vietnamese, represents a voiceless retroflex affricate . In the northern dialects, this sound is pronounced , just like what represents. was formerly considered a distinct letter of the
Vietnamese alphabet The Vietnamese alphabet ( vi, chữ Quốc ngữ, lit=script of the National language) is the modern Latin writing script or writing system for Vietnamese. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages originally developed by Portuguese m ...
, but today is not. is used in the Basque, where it represents an apical
voiceless alveolar affricate A voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several t ...
. It contrasts with , which is
laminal A laminal consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue in contact with upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, to possibly, as ...
. In Hausa, represents an alveolar ejective fricative or affricate ), depending on dialect. It is considered a distinct letter, and placed between and in alphabetical order. It is also used in
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
for . It is also used in Hausa Boko. The Wade-Giles and
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
romanizations of Chinese use for an unaspirated
voiceless alveolar affricate A voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several t ...
. Wade-Giles also uses for the aspirated equivalent . These are equivalent to
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
and , respectively. The Hepburn romanization of Japanese uses for a
voiceless alveolar affricate A voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several t ...
). In native Japanese words, this sound only occurs before , but it may occur before other vowels in
loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...
s. Other romanization systems write as . in
Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...
is used for . The sequence occurs in English, but it has no special function and simply represents a sequence of and . It occurs word-initially only in some
loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...
s, such as ''
tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
'' and '' tsar''. Most English-speakers do not pronounce a in such words and pronounce them as if they were spelled and or , respectively. was used in medieval Basque for a voiceless postalveolar affricate ; this is now represented by . is used in Basque for , and in romanized Kabyle for . In romanized Korean, it represents the fortis sound , in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) it is ejective , and in Cypriot Arabic, it represents . is used for in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
. is used in Basque,
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
and some indigenous languages of
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
, for a voiceless postalveolar affricate . In Nambikwara it represents a glottalized . In Juǀʼhoan it is used for the uvularized-release . is used in the Hungarian alphabet for , a voiceless palatal affricate; in Hungarian, digraphs are considered single letters, and
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in '' NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, a ...
s keep them intact. In Xhosa, represents and the similar in the Algonquian
Massachusett orthography Massachusett is an indigenous Algonquian language of the Algic language family. It was the primary language of several peoples of New England, including the Massachusett in the area roughly corresponding to Boston, Massachusetts, including muc ...
. In Shona, it represents . In Tagalog it represents . In the transcription of Australian Aboriginal languages such as
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
, and
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
, it represents a postalveolar stop, either voiceless or voiced . (This sound is also written , , , , and ). In Cypriot Arabic, it represents . is used in Basque, German and
Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
for the
voiceless alveolar affricate A voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several t ...
). In Basque, this sound is
laminal A laminal consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue in contact with upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, to possibly, as ...
and contrasts with the apical affricate represented by . It is also used in Catalan to represent the voiced alveolar affricate . In Juǀʼhoan it is used for the ejective affricate . For its use in the Wade–Giles system of Romanization of Chinese, see Wade–Giles → Syllabic consonants.


U

is used in Taa for the glottalized or creaky vowel . is used in
Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
for before a consonant. Before a vowel, is used. is found in many
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
s. In English, represents /ju/ or /u/ as in ''cue'' or ''true'', respectively. In German, it is equivalent to Ü, and as such may appear in proper names of people, representing or . In the
Cantonese Romanisation Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, it represents in a non-initial position. is used in
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
to represent . is used in
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Alaskan Yup'ik may refer to: * Central Alaskan Yup'ik people * Central Alaskan Yup'ik language Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Direction ...
for . is used in Taa for the breathy or
murmured Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...
vowel . In
Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
, it is used for before a consonant. Before a vowel, is used. in Dutch stands for the diphthong . In Irish and
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...
, it is after a velarized (broad) consonant, and in Irish, it is used for between a broad and a slender consonant. In German, it represents the diphthong , which appears only in
interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...
s such as ''"pfui!"''. In English, it represents the sound in ''fruit'', ''juice'', ''suit'' and ''pursuit''. However, in many English words, this does not hold. For example, it fails in words where the ''u'' in ''ui'' functions as a modifier of a preceding ''g'' (forcing ''g'' to remain rather than shifting to in ''guild'', ''guilt'', ''guilty'', ''sanguine'', '' Guinea'', etc.), doing the same with ''c'' (in words like ''circuit'' and ''biscuit''), or in cases of unusual etymological spelling or syllable separation (e.g. ''build'', ''suite'', and ''intuition''). It represents /ai/ in ''guide''. In Mandarin
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
, it is after a consonant. (In initial position, this is spelled ''wei.'') In
Cantonese Romanisation Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, it represents or . In
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, it is not a digraph, but a predictable sequence , as in ''h''ui''t'' "eight". In
Scots Scots usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: * Scots language, a language of the West Germanic language family native to Scotland * Scots people, a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland * Scoti, a Latin na ...
it represents the vowel in words such as bluid (blood), duin (done), muin (moon) and spuin (spoon) and is used similarly in Northumbrian and Cumbrian. is used in Irish for between a broad and a slender consonant. is used in Irish for between a broad and a slender consonant. is used in Portuguese for , and in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
to write (only before a consonant and at the end of a word). is used in Portuguese for before a consonant. is used in many languages to write a nasal vowel. In Portuguese before a consonant, and in many
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...
n languages, it is , while in French it is , or among the younger generation . In
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
, is spelled ''un'' after a consonant, ''wen'' initially. is used in Portuguese for before a consonant. is used in Tibetan Pinyin for . is used in
Lakhota Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. Lakota is mutually intelligible with the two dialects of the Dakota language, especially Western Dakota, and ...
for the nasal vowel . is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
to write the vowel in languages such as Yi, where ''o'' stands for . is used in Taa, for the pharyngealized vowel . is used in
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Alaskan Yup'ik may refer to: * Central Alaskan Yup'ik people * Central Alaskan Yup'ik language Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Direction ...
for , and in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
to write the trilled vowel in languages such as Yi. is used in Dutch for . In languages with phonemic long vowels, it may be used to write . occurs in Dutch, as in (''yours''), duwen (''to push'') . It is used in Cornish for the sound or . is used in
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
for . is used in
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
as an unofficial surrogate of , which represents . (a split digraph) indicates an English 'long u', historically , also .


V

is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for the labiodental flap . was used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the voiceless palatal click . represents in Shona. It was also used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the aspirated palatal click . was used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the voiceless palatal click (equivalent to ). was used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the palatal nasal click . is used in
Central Alaskan Yup'ik Central Alaskan Yup'ik may refer to: * Central Alaskan Yup'ik people * Central Alaskan Yup'ik language Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Direction ...
for . is used in Quechua.


W

is used in English to represent
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...
, the continuation of the PIE labiovelar (which became in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
and the
Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language f ...
). Most English question words begin with this digraph, hence the terms ''
wh-word An interrogative word or question word is a function word used to ask a question, such as ''what, which'', ''when'', ''where'', '' who, whom, whose'', ''why'', ''whether'' and ''how''. They are sometimes called wh-words, because in English mos ...
'' and ''
wh-question A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interrogat ...
''. In Old English, /hw/ was spelled or , and only the former was retained during the
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
period, becoming during the gradual development of the letter during the 14th-17th centuries. In most dialects it is now pronounced , but a distinct pronunciation realized as a voiceless w sound, is retained in some areas:
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
, central and southern
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, the southeastern
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, and (mostly among older speakers) in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
. In a few words (''who'', ''whose'', etc.) the pronunciation used among almost all speakers regardless of geography is /h/. For details, see Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩.
In Māori, represents or more commonly , with some regional variations approaching or . In the
Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dis ...
region, for some speakers, this represents a glottalized . In Xhosa, it represents , a murmured variant of found in loan words. In Cornish, it represents . is used in English for words which formerly began , now reduced to /r/ in virtually all dialects. is used in Mandarin
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
to write the vowel in initial position, as in the name ''
Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...
.'' It is sometimes found with this value in Romanized Korean as well, as in hanwu. In
Cantonese Romanisation Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, it is used to represent in an initial position or in a non-initial position. is used in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for glottalized . is used in Nambikwara for a glottalized .


X

is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for the labialized fricative . is used to write the click in Naro. It was used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the
voiceless lateral click The voiceless or more precisely tenuis lateral click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The Doke/ Beach convention, ad ...
. , in Albanian, represents the sound of the voiced postalveolar affricate consonant , as in the surname ''Hoxha'' . In Zulu and Xhosa it represents the voiceless aspirated
alveolar lateral click The lateral clicks are a family of click consonants found only in African languages. The clicking sound used by equestrians to urge on their horses is a lateral click, although it is not a speech sound in that context. Lateral clicks are found t ...
, for example in the name of the language '' Xhosa'' . In Walloon to write a consonant that is variously , , , depending on the dialect. In Canadian
Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),
it represents , which in Alaska is written ''x̱.'' is used in English for in words such as ''flexion''. (It is equivalent to plus the digraph , as in ''action''.) was used in the Tindall orthography of Khoekhoe for the
voiceless lateral click The voiceless or more precisely tenuis lateral click is a click consonant found primarily among the languages of southern Africa. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The Doke/ Beach convention, ad ...
(equivalent to ). is used as a letter of the Seri alphabet, where it represents a
labialized Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involv ...
uvular fricative Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be stops, fricatives, nasals, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does no ...
, . It is placed between X and Y in alphabetical order. is used in Portuguese in the word ''exsudar'' in
Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...
. In
European Portuguese European Portuguese ( pt, português europeu, ), also known as Portuguese of Portugal ( Portuguese: português de Portugal), Iberian Portuguese ( Portuguese: português ibérico), and Peninsular Portuguese ( Portuguese: português peninsular), re ...
this digraph changed to in the early 20th century and the word came to be pronounced as was used in the Ossete Latin alphabet for . is used in the Kurdish and the Tlingit language for . is used in Alaskan
Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),
for , which in Canada is written '' xhw.'' is used in Hadza for the glottalized click , and in Cypriot Arabic for . is used in the Romanized Popular Alphabet used to write Hmong, where it represents the sound .


Y

used in various languages. In some languages such as English it is used as an such as in bye or dye. In most languages, it is used as an sound, such as in yellow. was used in the pre-1985 orthography of Guinea, for the "ejective y" or palatalized glottal stop () in Pular (a Fula language). In the current orthography it is now written ƴ. In Xhosa it is used for the sound . In a handful of Australian languages, it represents a "dental semivowel". is used in Mandarin
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
to write the vowel when it forms an entire syllable. is used in Yanyuwa for a pre- velar stop, . is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
to write the vowel sound ( before another vowel), as in ''thym'' "thyme". is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
to write the vowel sound in some words of Greek origin, such as ''syncope'' "syncope". is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
to write the trilled vowel in languages such as Yi. is used in romanized Chinese to write the vowel . In Mandarin
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
it is used for in initial position, whereas in Cantonese
Jyutping Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK), an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme. The LSHK advocates f ...
it is used for in non-initial position. In the
Yale romanization of Cantonese The Yale romanization of Cantonese was developed by Gerard P. Kok for his and Parker Po-fei Huang's textbook ''Speak Cantonese'' initially circulated in looseleaf form in 1952 but later published in 1958. Unlike the Yale romanization of Manda ...
and
Cantonese Romanisation Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, it represents in an initial position and in a non-initial position. (See jyu.) is used for in
Arrernte Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...
and for doubly articulated in Yélî Dnye. It is used in Cornish for the diphthongs , , or . in used in Nambikwara for a glottalized . is used in some languages such as Finnish to write the long vowel . In Haida (Bringhurst orthography) it is glottalized . (a split digraph) indicates an English 'long y' (equivalent to ).


Z

represents the
voiced postalveolar fricative A voiced postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses term ''voiced postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound , but it also describes the voiced postalveolar ...
(), like the in ''pleasure'', in Albanian and in Native American orthographies such as
Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...
. It is used for the same sound in some English-language dictionaries, as well as to transliterate the sound when represented by Cyrillic and Persian into English, but is rarely seen in English words, appearing primarily in foreign borrowings (eg ''muzhik'') and slang (eg ''zhoosh''). as a digraph is rare in European languages using the
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...
; in addition to Albanian it is found in Breton in words that are pronounced with in some dialects and in others. In
Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
, represents the voiceless retroflex affricate . When
Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...
and Tamil are transliterated into the Latin script, represents a retroflex approximant (Malayalam and Tamil
The Tamil script ( , ) is an abugida script that is used by Tamils and Tamil speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and elsewhere to write the Tamil language. Certain minority languages such as Saurashtra, Badaga, I ...
, ḻ, . in Polish represents whenever it precedes a vowel, and whenever it precedes a consonant (or in the end of the word), and is considered a graphic variant of ź appearing in other situations. is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for the
voiced lateral fricative The voiced alveolar lateral fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiced dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral fricatives is (sometimes ...
is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for . is the last (forty-fourth) letter of the Hungarian alphabet. Its name is "zsé" and represents , a
voiced postalveolar fricative A voiced postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses term ''voiced postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound , but it also describes the voiced postalveolar ...
, similar to ''J'' in ''Jacques'' and ''s'' in ''vision''. A few examples are ''rózsa'' "rose" and ''zsír'' "fat". is used in Shona to write the whistled sibilant . This was written ɀ from 1931 to 1955. is used in Dutch to represent the
labialized Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involv ...
voiced alveolar fricative The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described. * The symbol for the alveolar sibilant ...
(). is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...
for in languages such as Yi. It is also used with that value in romanized Kabyle. In medieval Czech, it stood for . In Hadza it is ejective .


Other

, capital , is used in many
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...
n languages for the nasal vowel . ''Ɛ'' is an " open e". , capital , is used in many
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...
n languages for the nasal vowel . ''Ɔ'' is an " open o". , capitalized , is used in
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
for the vowels and . The first element of the digraph, '' œ'', is itself is a ligature of ''o'' and ''e'', and may also be written as the trigraph . is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for . is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for . is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for the labial-velar nasal . , capitalized , was used for in the old orthography of Zhuang and Bouyei; this is now spelled with the trigraph . is used in Adzera for the prenasalized glottal stop . , capitalized or sometimes , was a digraph used in the Slovene Bohorič alphabet for . The first element, , the
long s The long s , also known as the medial s or initial s, is an archaic form of the lowercase letter . It replaced the single ''s'', or one or both of the letters ''s'' in a 'double ''s sequence (e.g., "ſinfulneſs" for "sinfulness" and "poſ� ...
, is an archaic non-final form of the letter . are used in Juǀʼhoan for its four
glottalized nasal click Glottalized clicks are click consonants pronounced with closure of the glottis. All click types (alveolar , dental , lateral , palatal , retroflex , and labial ) have glottalized variants. They are very common: All of the Khoisan languages o ...
s, . are used in Khoekhoe for its four tenuis clicks, . are used in Khoekhoe for its four aspirated nasal clicks, , and in Juǀʼhoan for its plain aspirated clicks, . are used in Juǀʼhoan for its four affricate ejective-contour clicks, . are used in Khoekhoe for its four plain
nasal clicks Nasal clicks are click consonants pronounced with nasal airflow. All click types ( alveolar , dental , lateral , palatal , retroflex , and labial ) have nasal variants, and these are attested in four or five phonations: voiced, voiceless, ...
, . are used in Juǀʼhoan for its four affricate
pulmonic-contour click Pulmonic-contour clicks, also called sequential linguo-pulmonic consonants, are consonants that transition from a click to an ordinary pulmonic sound, or more precisely, have an audible delay between the front and rear release of the click. All ...
s, .


See also

*
List of Latin-script trigraphs A number of trigraphs are found in the Latin script. A is used in Dutch and various Cantonese romanisations to write the sound . is used in Irish to write the sound , or in Donegal, , between broad consonants. is used in Irish to write th ...
*
List of Latin-script tetragraphs This is a list of tetragraphs in the Latin script. These are most common in Irish orthography. For Cyrillic tetragraphs, see tetragraph#Cyrillic ลง. Arrernte Tetragraphs in Arrernte transcribe single consonants, but are largely predictable ...
* Pentagraph * Hexagraph * Heptagraph *
List of Latin letters This is a list of letters of the Latin script. The definition of a Latin-script letter for this list is a character encoded in the Unicode Standard that has a script property of 'Latin' and the general category of 'Letter'. An overview of the ...
* List of Cyrillic digraphs


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Latin Digraphs