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E, or e, is the fifth
letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
and the second
vowel letter 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 (leng ...
in 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 o ...
, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plural ''ees'', ''Es'' or ''E's''. It is the most commonly used letter in many languages, including Czech,
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
, Dutch,
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
,
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 ...
,
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
, Hungarian,
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 of the ...
, Latvian, Norwegian, Spanish, 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 ...
.


History

The Latin letter 'E' differs little from its source, the Greek letter
epsilon Epsilon (, ; uppercase , lowercase or lunate ; el, έψιλον) is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding phonetically to a mid front unrounded vowel or . In the system of Greek numerals it also has the value five. It was der ...
, 'Ε'. This in turn comes from the Semitic letter '' '', which has been suggested to have started as a praying or calling human figure ('' hillul'' 'jubilation'), and was most likely based on a similar
Egyptian hieroglyph Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...
that indicated a different pronunciation. In Semitic, the letter represented (and in foreign words); in Greek, ''hê'' became the letter
epsilon Epsilon (, ; uppercase , lowercase or lunate ; el, έψιλον) is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding phonetically to a mid front unrounded vowel or . In the system of Greek numerals it also has the value five. It was der ...
, used to represent . The various forms of the
Old Italic script The Old Italic scripts are a family of similar ancient writing systems used in the Italian Peninsula between about 700 and 100 BC, for various languages spoken in that time and place. The most notable member is the Etruscan alphabet, which ...
and 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 o ...
followed this usage.


Use in writing systems


English

Although
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 p ...
spelling used to represent long and short , the Great Vowel Shift changed long (as in 'me' or 'bee') to while short (as in 'met' or 'bed') remained a
mid vowel A mid vowel (or a true-mid vowel) is any in a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned midway between an open vowel and a close vowel. Other names for a mid ...
. In other cases, the letter is silent, generally at the end of words like queue.


Other languages

In the orthography of many languages it represents either , , , or some variation (such as a nasalized version) of these sounds, often with diacritics (as: ) to indicate contrasts. Less commonly, as in French, German, or Saanich, represents a
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 ...
. Digraphs with are common to indicate either
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 o ...
s or monophthongs, such as or for or in English, for in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
, and for 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 ...
or in German.


Other systems

The
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
uses for the close-mid front unrounded vowel or the mid front unrounded vowel.


Most common letter

'E' is the most common (or highest-
frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...
) letter in the English language alphabet (starting off the typographer's phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU) and several other European
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 ...
, which has implications in both
cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...
and data compression. In the story " The Gold-Bug" by
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
, a character figures out a random character code by remembering that the most used letter in English is E. This makes it a hard and popular letter to use when writing lipograms.
Ernest Vincent Wright Ernest Vincent Wright (1872October 7, 1939) was an American author known for his book '' Gadsby'', a 50,000-word novel which, except for the introduction and a note at the end, did not use the letter "e". Biography The biographical details of hi ...
's '' Gadsby'' (1939) is considered a "dreadful" novel, and supposedly "at least part of Wright's narrative issues were caused by language limitations imposed by the lack of ''E''." Both Georges Perec's novel '' A Void'' (''La Disparition'') (1969) and its English translation by Gilbert Adair omit 'e' and are considered better works.


Related characters


Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

* E with
diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
s: Ĕ ĕ Ḝ ḝ Ȇ ȇ Ê ê Ê̄ ê̄ Ê̌ ê̌ Ề ề Ế ế Ể ể Ễ ễ Ệ ệ Ẻ ẻ Ḙ ḙ Ě ě Ɇ ɇ Ė ė Ė́ ė́ Ė̃ ė̃ Ẹ ẹ Ë ë È è È̩ è̩ Ȅ ȅ É é É̩ Ē ē Ḕ ḕ Ḗ ḗ Ẽ ẽ Ḛ ḛ Ę ę Ę́ ę́ Ę̃ ę̃ Ȩ ȩ E̩ e̩ * ⱸ : E with notch is used in the
Swedish Dialect Alphabet The Swedish Dialect Alphabet ( sv, Landsmålsalfabetet) is a phonetic alphabet created in 1878 by Johan August Lundell and used for the narrow transcription of Swedish dialects. The initial version of the alphabet consisted of 89 letters, 42 o ...
* Æ æ : Latin ''AE'' ligature * Œ œ : Latin ''OE'' ligature * The umlaut diacritic ¨ used above a vowel letter in German and other languages to indicate a fronted or front vowel (this sign originated as a superscript e) * Phonetic alphabet symbols related to E (the
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...
only uses lowercase, but uppercase forms are used in some other writing systems): ** Ɛ ɛ : Latin letter epsilon / open e, which represents an open-mid front unrounded vowel in the IPA ** ᶓ : Epsilon / open e with retroflex hook ** Ɜ ɜ : Latin letter reversed epsilon / open e, which represents an open-mid central unrounded vowel in the IPA ** ɝ : Latin small letter reversed epsilon / open e with hook, which represents a rhotacized open-mid central vowel in the IPA ** : Reversed epsilon / open e with retroflex hook ** : Modifier letter small reversed epsilon / open e ** ɞ : Latin small letter closed reversed open e, which represents an
open-mid central rounded vowel The open-mid central rounded vowel, or low-mid central rounded vowel, is a vowel 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 3\. ...
in IPA (shown as ʚ on the 1993 IPA chart) ** 𐞏 : Modifier letter small closed reversed open e, which is a superscript IPA letter ** Ə ə : Latin letter
schwa In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (, rarely or ; sometimes spelled shwa) is a vowel sound denoted by the IPA symbol , placed in the central position of the vowel chart. In English and some other languages, it rep ...
, which represents a
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 ə, rotated lowercase letter e. While the ''Handbook of th ...
in the IPA ** Ǝ ǝ : Latin letter
turned e Turn may refer to: Arts and entertainment Dance and sports * Turn (dance and gymnastics), rotation of the body * Turn (swimming), reversing direction at the end of a pool * Turn (professional wrestling), a transition between face and heel * Turn, ...
, which is used in the writing systems of some African languages ** ɘ : Latin letter reversed e, which represents a
close-mid central unrounded vowel The close-mid central unrounded vowel, or high-mid central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . This is a mirrored letter e and ...
in the IPA ** 𐞎 : Modifier letter small reversed e, which is a superscript IPA letter * The
Uralic Phonetic Alphabet The Uralic Phonetic Alphabet (UPA) or Finno-Ugric transcription system is a phonetic transcription or notational system used predominantly for the transcription and reconstruction of Uralic languages. It was first published in 1901 by Eemil Nesto ...
uses various forms of e and epsilon / open e: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *e : Subscript small e is used in
Indo-European studies Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical pro ...
*
Teuthonista Teuthonista is a phonetic transcription system used predominantly for the transcription of (High) German dialects. It is very similar to other Central European transcription systems from the early 20th century. The base characters are mostly bas ...
phonetic transcription system symbols related to E: ** ** **


Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

* 𐤄 : Semitic letter
He (letter) He is the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Hē , Hebrew Hē , Aramaic Hē , Syriac Hē , and Arabic . Its sound value is the voiceless glottal fricative (). The proto-Canaanite letter gave rise to the Greek Epsilon Ε ...
, from which the following symbols originally derive ** Ε ε : Greek letter
Epsilon Epsilon (, ; uppercase , lowercase or lunate ; el, έψιλον) is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding phonetically to a mid front unrounded vowel or . In the system of Greek numerals it also has the value five. It was der ...
, from which the following symbols originally derive *** Е е :
Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...
letter Ye *** Є є :
Ukrainian Ye Ukrainian Ye (Є є; italics: ) is a character of the Cyrillic script. It is a separate letter in the Ukrainian alphabet (8th position since 1992, 7th position before then), the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet, and both the Carpathian Rusyn alph ...
*** Э э : Cyrillic letter E *** :
Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...
letter Ei *** 𐌄 : Old Italic E, which is the ancestor of modern Latin E **** : Runic letter
Ehwaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the Elder Futhark ''e'' rune , meaning "horse" (cognate to Latin , Gaulish , Tocharian B , Sanskrit , Avestan and Old Irish ). In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, it is continued as (properly , but spelled ...
, which is possibly a descendant of Old Italic E *** :
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
letter eyz


Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations

* € :
Euro sign The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
. * ℮ : Estimated sign (used on prepackaged goods for sale within the European Union). * ''e'' : the symbol for the
elementary charge The elementary charge, usually denoted by is the electric charge carried by a single proton or, equivalently, the magnitude of the negative electric charge carried by a single electron, which has charge −1 . This elementary charge is a fundame ...
(the electric charge carried by a single proton) * ∃ : existential quantifier in predicate logic. It is read "there exists ... such that". * ∈ : the symbol for
set membership In mathematics, an element (or member) of a set is any one of the distinct objects that belong to that set. Sets Writing A = \ means that the elements of the set are the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. Sets of elements of , for example \, are subsets o ...
in
set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory, as a branch of mathematics, is mostly conce ...
. * 𝑒 : the base of the natural logarithm.


Code points

: 1


Other representations

In
British Sign Language British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK), and is the first or preferred language among the Deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on ...
(BSL), the letter 'e' is signed by extending the index finger of the right hand touching the tip of index on the left hand, with all fingers of left hand open.


Use as a number

In the
hexadecimal In mathematics and computing, the hexadecimal (also base-16 or simply hex) numeral system is a positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of 16. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using 10 symbols, hexa ...
(base 16) numbering system, E is a number that corresponds to the number 14 in
decimal The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers of the Hindu–Arabic numeral ...
(base 10) counting.


References


External links

* * * {{Latin script, E} ISO basic Latin letters Vowel letters