English alphabet - online puzzles

The modern English alphabet is a Latin alphabet consisting of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. It originated around the 7th century from the Latin script. Since then, letters have been added or removed to give the current Modern English alphabet of 26 letters (the same as in the ISO basic Latin alphabet). The word alphabet is a compound of first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta.

The exact shape of printed letters varies depending on the typeface (and font), and the shape of handwritten letters can differ significantly from the standard printed form (and between individuals), especially when written in cursive style.

Written English has a number of digraphs and some longer multigraphs, and is the only major modern European language that requires no diacritics for native words. A diaeresis may be used to distinguish two vowels with separate pronunciation from a double vowel, such as "coöperation". Very occasionally, a grave may be used to indicate that a normally silent vowel is pronounced (as in learnèd).

Letter names

Modern letters

The names of the letters are sometimes spelled out. Some compound words (e.g., tee-shirt, deejay, emcee, okay, etc.), derived forms (e.g., exed out, effing, to eff and blind, aitchless, etc.) and objects named after letters (e.g., em in printing and wye in railroading) may be written with the letter names.