Questions tagged [alphabet]
Questions regarding the English alphabet.
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1answer
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What is the difference between “Alphabet” and “Alphabets”? [duplicate]
I am just having a debate with one of my friend regarding the use of the word "Alphabet". when I use the word "last alphabet" instead of "last letter of Alphabet" she told me that I used the wrong ...
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1answer
46 views
Phoneticised alphabet letters [duplicate]
Do all letters of the English alphabet have phoneticised dictionary entries? I'm thinking of the word Vee for the letter V or Zed for the letter Z? For example is there an entry for H? Aitch?
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0answers
127 views
Specific type of abbreviation in textese
I would like to know if there is preexisting metalanguage or a term to describe the following types of abbreviations often present in textese or SMS language:
see → c,
you → u,
are → r,
your → ur, ...
90
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3answers
15k views
Why are names starting with a “J” common, while words starting with a “J” are uncommon?
There's a reason "J" is worth 10 points in Word feud, it's a quite uncommon letter.
According to Lewand, arranged from most to least common in appearance, the letters are: ...
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0answers
173 views
Numbering of the English phonetic alphabet [closed]
Here is the English alphabet (of letters): 1=a 2=b 3=c 4=d 5=e 6=f 7=g 8=h 9=i 10=j 11=k 12=l 13=m 14=n 15=o 16=p 17=q 18=r 19=s 20=t 21=u 22=v 23=w 24=x 25=y 26=z
What is the order/numbering of the ...
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0answers
64 views
Do English alphabet come under latin characters? [duplicate]
I haven't been able to infer whether latin characters are different from English alphabet or English alphabet are a subset of latin characters, as I came across several versions of latin.
Trying to ...
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2answers
447 views
Languages and their alphabet(s)
Why do we say English language has only one alphabet if English words (and as an extension sentences and phrases as well) can be written in alphabets of many other languages?
EDIT
Adding the ...
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4answers
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Is there a collective word for the different “alphabets” used by different languages?
As I believe "alphabet" refers specifically to the latin a-z, is there a term that collectively refers to all collections of writing characters. ie, if I had a list that contained the entries "Latin, ...
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1answer
53 views
I need an alernative to “before” and “after”, which alphabetize with after after before
Some software I use likes to alphabetize things, so I'd like an alternative to before and after, where sorting lexicographical is the same as sorting by time.
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3answers
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Meaningful English sentences containing very few distinct letters
An English pangram is a sentence that contains each of the 26 letters used in English, the classic example being `the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.' What I am looking for is precisely the ...
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2answers
2k views
Why do some nicknames have no apparent relation with their original counterparts? [duplicate]
I find it unusual and rather contrary to common sense and logic that some nicknames should have no apparent relation to their original names, such as "Jack" for "John(eg. JFK)" or "Jonathan", "Patsy" ...
5
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2answers
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Can I spell a voiced “th” without using IPA?
Is there a way to unambiguously convey that the "th" in a word should be voiced, like in the word "the", but without using the International Phonetic Alphabet (or any non-alphabetic characters)?
...
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1answer
354 views
Similarities between Latin Letters
Have there been any studies done into the similarity between individual latin letters? I'm hoping for something (preferably with letters in Arial font) where a letter has been given and the chance of ...
1
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1answer
599 views
Alphabetizing band names when the name includes a member's name [closed]
When one is alphabetizing band names which are named after a member of the band, do you put the last name first?
For a few examples, the following bands are names, but not of actual people:
Pink ...
2
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0answers
569 views
List of characters with diacritics accepted in English words [closed]
Some diacritics and special characters (like ligatures) are accepted in Contemporary English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_terms_with_diacritical_marks
Examples of English spellings: ...
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1answer
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Why is J often used to represent a “Y” sound in Romanizations of other writing systems?
I am not referring to IPA. I am referring to examples in textbooks. For example, my Ukrainian textbook says that the letter Я is pronounced as "ja". Most native English speakers would pronounced this ...
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0answers
408 views
single-letter translation from Greek letters to English letters?
Is there a well accepted way to represent each Greek letter using only one English letter?
I'm asking because I often needed to use English to represent Greek letters, e.g., when Greek font is absent....
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0answers
65 views
Can new alphabets be added to or existing ones be removed from the English language? [closed]
Does the English language, or any other language for that matter provide the flexibility to add or remove alphabets?
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2answers
211 views
List of inverted letters and their applications
Upside-down letters, as in ∀, and left-side-right letters, as in ∃, are used in mathematics and logic to indicate for all and there exists. Do you know other examples of such inversions ...
1
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1answer
720 views
'When was the use of Þ diminished by the digraph 'th'?
Wikipedia does not mention the exact date, nor do any other sites that I have visited.
While no Shakespearean book that I have read ( later 16th Century ) has the use of Þ in it, and the 15th ...
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3answers
3k views
Guide to alphabetizing upper case versus lower case? [closed]
Does there exist a general guide to the alphabetization of degenerate cases?
For example, which is to be listed first, "hamburger" or "Hamburger"?
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1answer
672 views
& as a letter in the alphabet?
I've been googleing and ran across this little blog post. It has a bit of information stating the the & symbol was at one point the 27th letter in the alphabet.
For years the & symbol (now ...
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1answer
2k views
Is there a proper name for counting with letters?
How should one refer to the practice of using letters instead of numbers for counting?
I'm referring to this:
"A, B, C, ... X, Y, Z, AA, AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, AG... ZX, ZY, ZZ, AAA,
AAB..."
...
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2answers
3k views
What Character Was Removed from the Alphabet?
From:
http://blog.dictionary.com/ampersand/
the ampersand today is used primarily in business names, but that small character was once the 27th part of the alphabet.
Is this true? Are there any ...
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1answer
2k views
Why did Old English use C while other Germanic languages used K?
During most the first millennium CE, North and West Germanic languages were written in runic alphabets. Gradually, each language shifted from the runic alphabet to the Latin alphabet. The people who ...
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1answer
330 views
Why don't ligatures have names?
It is common to see ligatures such as Æ or Œ in reference to classical works such as Œdipus or Æsop but these do not seem to have names. Strangely enough in the Old English alphabet there were similar ...
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2answers
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Is there a formal spelling for the English letter names?
The English alphabet has a common pronunciation. For example, the letter b is pronounced like the word bee, the letter c like the word see, and the letter i like the word aye.
Is there a formal ...
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1answer
1k views
Roman alphabet vowel arrangement [duplicate]
Is there any significance to the pattern we get when the Roman alphabet (upon which English is based) is arranged by giving vowels a "lead" column (which I hope you will be able to see as a grid)?
...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
How is the name of the letter “Z” pronounced in Indian English?
How is the letter "Z" pronounced in Indian English?
I assumed that Indian English is more similar to British English than to American English, and therefore would pronounce it "Zed". But I came ...
3
votes
1answer
3k views
What does “is for” mean exactly? [closed]
I get the main idea in phrases like "L is for the way you look at me" and "A is for Apple", but I don't know the exact meaning.
If you were to use other words instead of "is for" which synonym would ...
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7answers
2k views
Why does English omit diacritics on foreign names?
Why does English omit diacritics from foreign names that still use the Latin alphabet? For example, why are the Czech tennis player Tomáš Berdych, the Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbø, or the Polish ...
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1answer
6k views
What characters are used in English for a person's name? [closed]
[Edit]
To be clear, this is not a programing question. What is sought an example of set of rules, a government or a business (in an English speaking locale) uses to determine the acceptable character ...
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1answer
1k views
With character or sign
Is there a character or sign for 'with', similar to & for 'and'? Also, for 'without'?
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2answers
7k views
Where does “ö” fall in alphabetical ordering?
Much to my surprise, I just learned that some English-language documents use the ö character. I need to know, when sorting words in an English-language document, where is ö placed?
before A?
...
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4answers
2k views
What non-alphabetic characters are valid in English spelling?
Is ' (the apostrophe) the only character which is not part of the English alphabet that can appear in the correct spelling of an English word?
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2answers
631 views
NATO and US Finance Spelling alphabets - Which is more commonly used in everyday situations?
This is mostly related to US "normal" day to day usage of the spelling alphabet. I am new to the country and most often emails/names etc needs to be spelled and I find it difficult to determine which ...
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2answers
921 views
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6answers
5k views
A perfect (honest) pangram that is understandable for a regular native user?
Pangrams were pure wordplays, that because of IT has become a nice tool to test keyboard and fonts, assuming they are easy to remember and short. Therefore perfect pangrams are so nice: you don't need ...
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2answers
60k views
Difference between Letter and Alphabet in English [closed]
Can anyone please explain what is the difference between "Letter" and "Alphabet" in English?
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1answer
111 views
Why hasn't the pronunciation of w been shortened?
"Double u" is a rather long pronunciation for a letter. Why do we not yet have a shortened pronunciation yet? Is the letter simply too young, or are there other reasons?
3
votes
1answer
14k views
What are the least common letters to start words? [closed]
What letters of the alphabet least commonly appear as the first letter of a word? I'm looking in particular for the 4 least common, but however many you want to give beyond that is welcome.
78
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5answers
130k views
If the letter J is only 400–500 years old, was there a J sound that preceded the design of the letter?
I understand that the letter "J" is relatively new — perhaps 400–500 years old. But since there has long been important names that begin with J, such as Jesus, Joshua, Justinian, etc., and which ...
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4answers
51k views
Word for “only letters” [closed]
I am looking for a word that means "only letters A–Z", sort of like alphanumeric, but not numbers. The closest I got is alphabetic/alphabetical. The context is
Please enter a [word] string:
This ...
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5answers
2k views
How to refer to “earlier” letters in the alphabet?
Concerning the order of letters in the alphabet, how does one refer to "earlier" letters?
For example, "Names starting with "earlier" letters come first in lists."
Would that be "earlier," "higher," ...
5
votes
3answers
9k views
Why was it necessary to divide alphabets into vowels and consonants?
This may be an extremely simple question. I know pretty much what do we do when we see any vowel but I am curious why were these two classes created in the first place.
I beg pardon for another ...
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2answers
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R is the dog’s letter
Wikipedia:
The letter R is sometimes referred to as the littera canina (canine letter). This phrase has Latin origins: the Latin R was trilled to sound like a growling dog. A good example of a ...
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0answers
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Perfect English Pangram [duplicate]
Is there a perfect pangram for English language, a sentence that uses all 26 English letters that appear only once?
Polish, Dutch and Russian, all has perfect pangrams.
Polish: Pójdźże, kiń tę ...
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0answers
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Where does alphabetical order come from? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there a reason behind the ordering of letters in the English alphabet?
Alphabetical order seems something obvious, we do not usually ask ourselves if it is the best ...
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2answers
921 views
What is the origin of the different pronunciations of C and G before different vowels?
In English the letters C and G usually have different pronunciation before a/o/u and before e/i. The same is true for Romance languages - French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian etc.
What is the origin of ...
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0answers
60 views
Foreign names: Transcription or literal spelling? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How should foreign words (with foreign characters) be written in English text?
Sometimes, you want to use the names of foreign people in English texts. This presents no ...
