The Latin alphabet.
Ancient and medieval letters.
The Latin alphabet has 23 (or 24, with u) letters. Each letter
has an uppercase and a lowercase form.
| Letter. |
Pronunciation. |
| A |
a |
a as in father |
| B |
b |
b as in boy |
| C |
c |
c as in cat
ng as in ring |
| D |
d |
d as in dog |
| E |
e |
e as in get |
| F |
f |
f as in fish |
| G |
g |
g as in game |
| H |
h |
h as in hop |
| I |
i |
i as in magazine |
| K |
k |
k as in racket |
| L |
l |
l as in lamb |
| M |
m |
m as in mother |
| N |
n |
n as in nice |
| O |
o |
o as in note |
| P |
p |
p as in pig |
| Q |
q |
q as in queen
(always with u) |
| R |
r |
r as in river |
| S |
s |
s as in silly,
s as in miasma |
| T |
T |
t as in until |
| U |
u |
u as in tune* |
| V |
v |
v as in van |
| X |
x |
x as in fox |
| Y |
y |
y as in gym |
| Z |
z |
z as in zoo |
* The letter u
is a variation of the letter v, and the ancient Romans
did not usually distinguish between them. |
The letter j came about as a variant and consonantization
of the letter i.
Latin vowels can often come together to make new sounds, called
diphthongs.
| Diphthong. |
Pronunciation. |
| ae |
ai as in aisle |
| au |
ow as in how |
| ei |
ei as in their |
| eu |
ew as in drew |
| oe |
oi as in oil |
| ου |
ou as in youth |
| ui |
we as in weak |
| |
|
| æ |
same as ae |
| œ |
same as oe |
Those last two are called ligatures, in which the vowels
are written together as one letter.
|