Small and big alphabet

English Alphabet | Writing | EnglishClub

An alphabet is a set of letters or symbols that we use to represent the basic speech sounds of a language in writing.

This page looks at writing the English alphabet. You can read about pronouncing the English alphabet here.

The English word "alphabet" comes from the Latin word "alphabetum". The Latin word "alphabetum" came from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, "alpha" and "beta".

Letters of the English Alphabet

The English alphabet has 26 letters, starting with a and ending with z. Below you see the whole alphabet.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

The letters above are "small letters". But they can also be written as "large letters" - see below.The letters of the alphabet are also sometimes called "characters".

Small and Large Letters

We can write each letter of the English alphabet as a "small letter" (abc) or as a "large letter" (ABC). Large letters are also called "capital letters" or "capitals".

Below you see the whole alphabet with small letters on the left and capitals on the right:

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

In informal English, we sometimes call capitals just "caps".

Small letters are sometimes called "lower case" and large letters "upper case". This is because in the old days of printing, before computers, the metal blocks for setting type were kept in two different boxes or "cases": small letters in the bottom or lower case, large letters in the top or upper case.

Font Styles

Printed letters of the alphabet come in different styles or designs. Each style is called a "font". This page shows all 26 characters, as small and large letters, in 5 different styles. Each column displays a different font style, in this order:

1. Serif: with serifs, or little projections, at the end of most strokes
2. Fixed-width: like old typewriter lettering - each letter is about the same width, so "i" takes up the same space as "w"
3. Sans-serif: with no serifs
4. Cursive: like handwriting
5. Fantasy: fancy, artistic

Alphabetical Order

The English alphabet starts with the letter a and finishes with the letter z. We always write the alphabet in the same order:

a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p-q-r-s-t-u-v-w-x-y-z

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

This order is called "alphabetical order". We often write lists in alphabetical order. For example, to write a list of countries in alphabetical order, we start with countries that begin with the letter A, then with countries that begin with B, and so on. For example:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada

If more than one word begins with the letter A, we put them in order based on the second letter, and then the third letter, and so on:

• Algeria
• Argentina
• Belgium
• Benin
• Bermuda

We use alphabetical order for many things, for example:

• dictionaries
• indexes of books
• telephone directories

When you write any list, it is a good idea to use alphabetical order. This makes it easy for your reader to find a particular item in the list.

English Alphabet - Worldometer

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• Languages
• English Alphabet

The English alphabet consists of 26 letters. Each letter has an uppercase ("capital letter") and a lowercase ("small letter") form.

#	Capital Letter	Small Letter	Phonic (pronunciation)	Name
1	A	a	/eɪ/, /æ/	a
2	B	b	/biː/	bee
3	C	c	/siː/	cee
4	D	d	/diː/	dee
5	E	e	/iː/	e
6	F	f	/ɛf/	ef
7	G	g	/dʒiː/	gee
8	H	h	/(h)eɪtʃ/	(h)aitch
9	I	i	/aɪ/	i
10	J	j	/dʒeɪ/	jay
11	K	k	/keɪ/	kay
12	L	l	/ɛl/	el
13	M	m	/ɛm/	em
14	N	n	/ɛn/	en
15	O	o	/oʊ/	o
16	P	p	/piː/	pee
17	Q	q	/kjuː/	cue
18	R	r	/ɑːr/	ar
19	S	s	/ɛs/	ess
20	T	t	/tiː/	tee
21	U	u	/juː/	u
22	V	v	/viː/	vee
23	W	w	/ˈdʌbəl. juː/	double-u
24	X	x	/ɛks/	ex
25	Y	y	/waɪ/	wy
26	Z	z	/zi/zɛd/	zee/zed

Notes

• Five of the letters in the English Alphabet are vowels: A, E, I, O, U.
• The remaining 21 letters are consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X, Z, and usually W and Y.
  Written English includes the digraphs: ch ci ck gh ng ph qu rh sc sh th ti wh wr zh. These are not considered separate letters of the alphabet.
• Two letters, “A” and “I,” also constitute words.
• Until fairly recently (until 1835), the 27th letter of the alphabet (right after "z") was the ampersand (&).
• The English Alphabet is based on the Latin script, which is the basic set of letters common to the various alphabets originating from the classical Latin alphabet.

Old English

• The Old English alphabet letters were 29: A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z & ⁊ Ƿ Þ Ð Æ
• The Old English alphabet was recorded in the year 1011 by a monk named Byrhtferð and included the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet (including ampersand) and 5 additional English letters: Long S (ſ), Eth (Ð and ð), Thorn (þ), Wynn (ƿ) and Ash (ᚫ; later Æ and æ).
• With respect to Modern English, Old English did not include J, U, and W.

See Also:

• NATO Phonetic Alphabet

English alphabet. Letters of the English alphabet

The English alphabet consists of 26 letters, 5 of them are vowels w ) and 21 consonants.

Notes

The letter Z , z is pronounced as [ 'zed ] in British English and as [ 'zi: ] in American.

Letter H , h is pronounced ['heitʃ] in Ireland and often in Australia.

English Uppercase Letters

English Alphabet Songs

ABC Song for Learning the English Alphabet (American English)

A classic children's song that sings the letters of the English alphabet. A song like this is usually called an "ABC song" (one of the alphabets in English is ABC), and there are many different versions of it (some slower, some faster; some use adult voices, others use children's voices; etc.) .d.).
A B C D E F G
H I J K L M N O P
Q R S
T... for Ted
U V W
X Y Z

English alphabet for children, pictures

Back (English phonetics) Forward (characteristic of sounds) To the list of pronunciation rules

Russian and English alphabet in one line

• Frequency analysis of text online >>