Ch (digraph)
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Ch is a digraph in the
Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
. It is treated as a letter of its own in
Chamorro Chamorro may refer to: * Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific * Chamorro language, an Austronesian language indigenous to The Marianas * Chamorro Time Zone, the time zone of Guam and the Northern Mar ...
,
Old Spanish Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian ( es, castellano antiguo; osp, romance castellano ), or Medieval Spanish ( es, español medieval), was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided ...
,
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
, Slovak,
Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...
, Uzbek,
Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...
, Guarani,
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
, Cornish,
Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...
,
Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...
Łatynka and Belarusian
Łacinka The Belarusian Latin alphabet or Łacinka (from be, лацінка or łacinka, BGN/PCGN: ''Latsinka'', ) for the Latin script in general is the common name for writing Belarusian using Latin script. It is similar to the Sorbian alphabet a ...
alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syll ...
s. Formerly ch was also considered a separate letter for collation purposes in Modern Spanish,
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
, and sometimes in
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
; now the digraph ch in these languages continues to be used, but it is considered as a sequence of letters and sorted as such.


History

The digraph was first used in Latin since the 2nd century B.C. to transliterate the sound of the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
letter
chi Chi or CHI may refer to: Greek *Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ); Chinese *Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon *Chi (surname) (池, pin ...
in words borrowed from that language. In classical times, Greeks pronounced this as an aspirated
voiceless velar plosive The voiceless velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k. The sound is a ver ...
. In post-classical Greek ( Koine and
Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...
) this sound developed into a
fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
. Since neither sound was found in native Latin words (with some exceptions like ''pulcher'' 'beautiful', where the original sound was influenced by or ), in Late Latin the pronunciation occurred. In
Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
, a language that had no or and represented by ''c'', ''k'', or ''qu'', ''ch'' began to be used to represent the
voiceless palatal plosive The voiceless palatal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in some vocal languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is c. If distinction is neces ...
, which came from in some positions and later became and then . Now the digraph ''ch'' is used for all the aforementioned sounds, as shown below. The Old French usage of ''ch'' was also a model of several other digraphs for palatals or postalveolars:
lh (digraph) This is a list of digraphs used in various Latin alphabets. Capitalisation involves only the first letter (''ch'' becomes ''Ch'') unless otherwise stated (''ij'' becomes ''IJ''). Letters with diacritics are arranged in alphabetic order accordin ...
,
nh (digraph) Nh is a digraph of the Latin alphabet, a combination of N and H. Together with '' ilh'' and the interpunct, it is a typical feature of Occitan, a language illustrated by medieval troubadours. It commonly represents the voiced palatal nasal wh ...
,
sh (digraph) Sh is a digraph of the Latin alphabet, a combination of S and H. European languages Albanian In Albanian, sh represents . It is considered a distinct letter, named shë, and placed between S and T in the Albanian alphabet. Breton In Breton ...
.


Use by language


Balto-Slavic languages

In
Balto-Slavic languages The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic languages, Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits ...
that use the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic alphabet, ''ch'' represents the
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
. ''Ch'' is used in the Lithuanian language to represent the "soft h" , in word choras xɔrɐs̪"choir". This digraph is not considered a single letter in the Lithuanian alphabet. This digraph is used only in loanwords. "Ch" represents in
Upper Sorbian Upper Sorbian (), occasionally referred to as "Wendish", is a minority language spoken by Sorbs in Germany in the historical province of Upper Lusatia, which is today part of Saxony. It is grouped in the West Slavic language branch, together ...
.


Czech

In
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
, the letter ''ch'' is a digraph consisting of the sequence of
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 ...
alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syll ...
grapheme In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other names of emic units. The study of graphemes is called ''graphemics' ...
s C and H, however it is a single
phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
(pronounced as a
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
) and represents a single entity in Czech
collation Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. Many systems of collation are based on numerical order or alphabetical order, or extensions and combinations thereof. Collation is a fundamental element of most office fili ...
order, inserted between '' H'' and '' I''. In capitalized form, ''Ch'' is used at the beginning of a sentence (''Chechtal se.'' "He giggled."), while ''CH'' or ''Ch'' can be used for standalone letter in lists etc. and only fully capitalized ''CH'' is used when the letter is a part of an abbreviation (e.g. '' CHKO Beskydy'') and in all-uppercase texts. In the Czech alphabet, the digraph ''Ch'' is handled as a letter equal to other letters. In Czech dictionaries, indexes, and other alphabetical lists, it has its own section, following that of words (including names) beginning with ''H'' and preceding that of words that begin with ''I''. Thus, the word ''chemie'' will not be found in the ''C'' section of a Czech dictionary, nor the name ''Chalupa'' in the ''C'' section of the phonebook. The alphabetical order ''h'' ''ch'' is observed also when the combination ''ch'' occurs in median or final position: ''Praha'' precedes ''Prachatice'', ''hod'' precedes ''hoch''.


Polish

''Ch'' had been used in the
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
language to represent the "unvoiced h" as it is pronounced in the Polish word chleb "bread", and the ''h'' to represent "voiced h", where it is distinct, as it is pronounced in the Polish word hak "hook". Between
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the Polish
intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
used to emphasize the "voiced h" to aid themselves in proper spelling. In most present-day Polish dialects, however, ''ch'' and ''h'' are uniformly merged as .


Slovak

In Slovak, ''ch'' represents , and more specifically in voiced position. At the beginning of a sentence it is used in two different variants: ''CH'' or ''Ch''. It can be followed by a
consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
(''chladný'' "cold"), a
vowel 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 ...
(''chémia'' "chemistry") or
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 ...
(''chiazmus'' "chiasmus"). Only a few Slovak words treat ''CH'' as two separate letters, e.g., ''viachlasný'' (e.g. "multivocal" performance), from ''viac'' ("multi") and ''hlas'' ("voice"). In the
Slovak alphabet The first Slovak orthography was proposed by Anton Bernolák (1762–1813) in his ''Dissertatio philologico-critica de litteris Slavorum'', used in the six-volume ''Slovak-Czech-Latin-German-Hungarian Dictionary'' (1825–1927) and used primarily ...
, it comes between ''H'' and ''I''.


Celtic languages

In
Goidelic languages The Goidelic or Gaelic languages ( ga, teangacha Gaelacha; gd, cànanan Goidhealach; gv, çhengaghyn Gaelgagh) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically ...
, ''ch'' represents the
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
. In
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
, ''ch'' stands for when
broad Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to: People * A slang term for a woman. * Broad (surname), a surname Places * Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth * The Broads, a network of mostly na ...
and (or between vowels) when slender. Word-initially it reprsents the lenition of . Examples: broad in ''chara'' "friend" (lenited), ''loch'' "lake,
loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...
", ''boichte'' "poorer"; slender in ''Chéadaoin'' "Wednesday" (lenited), ''deich'' "ten".
Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...
has evolved a modified form of this digraph, ''c'h'' for representing , as opposed to ''ch'', which stands for . In
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
''ch'' represents the
voiceless uvular fricative The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , the Greek chi. The sound is represented by (ex with underdot) in Am ...
. The digraph counts as a separate letter in the
Welsh alphabet Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
, positioned after ''c'' and before ''d''; so, for example, ''chwilen'' 'beetle' comes after ''cymryd'' 'take' in Welsh dictionaries; similarly, ''Tachwedd'' 'November' comes after ''taclus'' 'tidy'.


Chamorro

''Ch'' is the fifth letter of the
Chamorro language Chamorro (; ch, Finuʼ Chamorro, links=no (CNMI), (Guam)) is an Austronesian language spoken by about 58,000 people (about 25,800 people on Guam and about 32,200 in the rest of the Mariana Islands and elsewhere). It is the native and spoken ...
and its sound is . The Chamorro Language has three different dialects - the Guamanian dialect, the Northern Mariana Islands dialect, and the Rotanese dialect. With the minor difference in dialect, the Guamanians have a different orthography from the other two dialects. In Guamanian orthography, both letters tend to get capitalized (e.g.: ''CHamoru''). The Northern Mariana Islands' & Rotanese orthography enforces the standard capitalization rule (e.g.: ''Chamorro'').


Germanic languages

In several
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
, including
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 **Ge ...
and romanized
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
, ''ch'' represents the
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
. In
Rheinische Dokumenta The Rheinische Dokumenta () is a phonetic writing system developed in the early 1980s by a working group of academics, linguists, local language experts, and local language speakers of the Rhineland. It was presented to the public in 1986 by the L ...
, ''ch'' represents , as opposed to ''ch'', which stands for .


Dutch

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
''ch'' was originally voiceless, while ''g'' was voiced. In the northern Netherlands, both ''ch'' and ''g'' are voiceless, while in the southern Netherlands and Flanders the voiceless/voiced distinction is upheld. The voiceless fricative is pronounced or in the north and in the south, while the voiced fricative is pronounced in the north (i.e. the northern parts of the area that still has this distinction) and in the south. This difference of pronunciation is called 'hard and soft g'.


English

In
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 ...
, ''ch'' is most commonly pronounced as , as in ''chalk'', ''cheese'', ''cherry'', ''church'', ''much'', etc. When it represents word-medially or word-finally, it usually follows a consonant (''belch'', ''lunch'', ''torch'', etc.) or two vowels (''beach'', ''speech'', ''touch'', etc.). Elsewhere, this sound is usually spelled ''tch'', with a few exceptions (''attach'', ''sandwich'', ''lychee'', etc.). ''Ch'' can also be pronounced as , as in ''ache'', ''choir'', ''school'' and ''stomach''. Most words with this pronunciation of ''ch'' find their origin in Greek words with the letter
chi Chi or CHI may refer to: Greek *Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ); Chinese *Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon *Chi (surname) (池, pin ...
, like ''mechanics'', ''chemistry'' and ''character''. Others, like ''chiaroscuro'', ''scherzo'' and ''zucchini'', come from Italian. In some English words of French origin, "ch" represents , as in ''charade'', ''machine'', ''chivalry'' and ''nonchalant''. Due to
hypercorrection In sociolinguistics, hypercorrection is non-standard use of language that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of language-usage prescription. A speaker or writer who produces a hypercorrection generally believes through a mi ...
, this pronunciation also occurs in a few loanwords from other sources, like
machete Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ...
(from Spanish) and
pistachio The pistachio (, ''Pistacia vera''), a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food. ''Pistacia vera'' is often confused with other sp ...
(from Italian). In certain dialects of British English ''ch'' is often pronounced in two words: ''
sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
'' and ''
spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...
'', and also in place names, such as
Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
and
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
. In words of Scots origin it may be pronounced as (or ), as in ''
loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...
'' and ''
clachan A clachan ( ga, clochán or ; gd, clachan ; gv, claghan ) is a small settlement or hamlet on the island of Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. Though many were originally kirktowns,MacBain, A. (1911) ''An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaeli ...
''. In words of
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
or
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
origin it may be pronounced as (or ). The digraph can also be silent, as in '' Crichton'', ''
currach A currach ( ) is a type of Irish boat with a wooden frame, over which animal skins or hides were once stretched, though now canvas is more usual. It is sometimes anglicised as "curragh". The construction and design of the currach are unique ...
'', ''
drachm The dram (alternative British spelling drachm; apothecary symbol ʒ or ℨ; abbreviated dr) Earlier version first published in ''New English Dictionary'', 1897.National Institute of Standards and Technology (October 2011). Butcher, Tina; Cook, ...
'', ''
yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
'' and traditionally in '' schism''.


German

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 **Ge ...
, ''ch'' normally represents two
allophones In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in ''s ...
: the
voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...
(or the
voiceless uvular fricative The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , the Greek chi. The sound is represented by (ex with underdot) in Am ...
) following ''a'', ''o'' or ''u'' (called '' Ach-Laut''), and the
voiceless palatal fricative The voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal 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 C. It is the non-sibilant equi ...
following any other vowel or a consonant (called ''Ich-Laut''). A similar allophonic variation is thought to have existed in
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
. The sequence "chs" is normally pronounced , as in ''sechs'' (six) and ''Fuchs'' (fox). An initial "ch" (which only appears in loaned and dialectical words) may be pronounced (common in southern varieties), (common in western varieties) or (common in northern and western varieties). It is always pronounced when followed by ''l'' or ''r'', as in ''Chlor'' (chlorine) or ''Christus'' (Christ).


Swedish

In
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 ...
, ''ch'' represents /ɧ/ and /ɕ/ in loanwords such as ''choklad'' and ''check''. These sounds come from former and ʃ respectively. In the conjunction ''och'' (and), ''ch'' is pronounced or silent.


Hungarian

The digraph ''ch'' is not considered part of the
Hungarian alphabet The Hungarian alphabet () is an extension of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Hungarian language. The alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, with several added variations of letters. The alphabet consists of the 26 letters of the ISO b ...
, but it has historically been used for ʃ as in English and Spanish, and this use has been preserved in family names:
Széchenyi Széchenyi or Széchényi is the name of a wealthy Hungarian noble family which produced many politicians, landowners and influential figures within Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is not to be confused with other Szécsényi family that went extinct ...
, Madách. It is also retained in family names of German origin, where it is pronounced Aulich. The digraph is also used in some loan words, such as ''technika'' or ''jacht'' where it is pronounced


Interlingua

In
Interlingua Interlingua (; ISO 639 language codes ia, ina) is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951 by the American International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA). It ranks among the most widely used IALs and is t ...
, ''ch'' is pronounced /ʃ/ in words of French origin (e.g. 'chef' = /ʃef/ meaning "chief" or "chef"), /k/ in words of Greek and Italian origin (e.g. "choro" = /koro/ meaning "chorus"), and more rarely /t͡ʃ/ in words of English or Spanish origin (e.g. "cochi" /kot͡ʃi/ meaning "car" or "coach"). Ch may be pronounced either /t͡ʃ/ or /ʃ/ depending on the speaker in many cases (e.g. "chocolate" may be pronounced either /t͡ʃokolate/ or /ʃokolate/).


Romance languages

In Catalan ''ch'' represents final sound. In the past it was widely used, but nowadays it is only present in some surnames (e.g. , ). In medieval Catalan it was occasionally used to represent sound. In native French words, ''ch'' represents as in ''chanson'' (song). In most words of Greek origin, it represents as in ''archéologie'', ''chœur'', ''chirographier''; but ''chimie'', ''chirurgie'', and ''chimère'' have , as does ''anarchiste''. In
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
, ''ch'' represents the
voiceless velar plosive The voiceless velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k. The sound is a ver ...
before -e and -i. In
Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...
, ''ch'' represents , but in some dialects it is . In
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
, ''ch'' represents , with some few speakers in northeastern mainland Portugal retaining the archaic (constrating with for ''x'', homophonic elsewhere).


Spanish

''Ch'' is pronounced as a
voiceless postalveolar affricate The voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant affricate or voiceless domed postalveolar sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with , (formerly ...
in both Castillian and American Spanish, or a
voiceless postalveolar fricative A voiceless postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term ''voiceless postalveolar fricative'' only for the sound , but it also describes the voiceless ...
in Andalusian. ''Ch'' is traditionally considered a distinct letter of the Spanish alphabet, called ''che''. In the 2010 Orthography of the Spanish Language, ''Ch'' is no longer considered a letter of its own but rather a digraph consisting of two letters. Until 1994 ''ch'' was treated as a single letter in Spanish
collation Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. Many systems of collation are based on numerical order or alphabetical order, or extensions and combinations thereof. Collation is a fundamental element of most office fili ...
order, inserted between C and D; in this way, ''mancha'' was after ''manco'' and before ''manda''. However, an April 1994 vote in the 10th Congress of the
Association of Spanish Language Academies The Association of Academies of the Spanish Language ( es, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, ASALE) is an entity whose end is to work for the unity, integrity, and growth of the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 an ...
adopted the standard international collation rules, so ''ch'' is now considered a sequence of two distinct characters, and dictionaries now place words starting with ''ch-'' between those starting with ''ce-'' and ''ci-'', as there are no words that start with ''cf-'' or ''cg-'' in Spanish.Association of Spanish Language Academies
official website Similarly, ''mancha'' now precedes ''manco'' in alphabetical order.


Other languages

''Ch'' was used in the Massachusett orthography developed by John Eliot to represent a sound similar to and in the modern orthography in use by some Wampanoag tribes for the same sound. In both systems, the digraph ''ch'' is considered a single letter. In the
Ossetic Ossetian (, , ), commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete (), is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Greater Caucasus. It is the native language of the Ossetia ...
Latin alphabet, ''ch'' was used to write the sound []. In Palauan language, Palauan, ''ch'' represents a glottal stop . ''Ch'' represents [] in Uyghur Latin Yéziqi, Uyghur Latin script. ''Ch'' represents in the Uzbek alphabet. It is considered a separate letter, and is the 28th letter of the alphabet. In
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
, ''ch'' represents the
voiceless palatal plosive The voiceless palatal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in some vocal languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is c. If distinction is neces ...
in the initial position. In the final position, the pronunciation is . In
Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...
and Zulu, ''ch'' represents the voiceless aspirated velar
dental click Dental (or more precisely denti-alveolar) clicks are a family of click consonants found, as constituents of words, only in Africa and in the Damin ritual jargon of Australia. In English, the ''tut-tut!'' (British spelling, "tutting") or ''ts ...
. In Obolo, ''ch'' represents a []. It is considered a single letter since 'c' and 'h' do not exist independently in the Obolo alphabet.


Use in romanization

"Ch" is frequently used in Transliteration, transliterating into many
European languages Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Rom ...
from
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
,
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
, and various others. In
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...
''ch'' is used in
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
to represent an aspirated
voiceless retroflex affricate The voiceless retroflex sibilant affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , sometimes simplified to or , and the equivalent X-SAMPA ...
. In
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
, ''ch'' is used in Hepburn to represent the
chi Chi or CHI may refer to: Greek *Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ); Chinese *Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon *Chi (surname) (池, pin ...
sound (ち). In many transliterations of
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
, the ''ch'' digraph is used to represent the
voiceless uvular fricative The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , the Greek chi. The sound is represented by (ex with underdot) in Am ...
/χ/, which is represented in Modern Hebrew by the letters ח and כ. Other transliterations systems will use the digraph ''kh'' to represent the same sound.


Alternate representations

International Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...
provides a unitary code for ''Ch'' used in several non-English languages, namely ''— — — —''. In the Czech extension to
Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
the letter ''Ch'' is represented as the dot pattern . English literary braille also has a single cell dedicated to (dots 1–6), which stands for "child" in isolation, but this is considered a single-cell contraction rather than a separate letter. In English
Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
, the "ch" digraph, when pronounced as , is represented by a single cell: In
computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...
, ''Ch'' is represented as a
sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...
of '' C'' and '' H'', not as a single
character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
; only the historical KOI-8 ČS2 encoding contained ''Ch'' as a single character.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ch (Digraph) Latin-script digraphs