English Alphabet

The letter A evolved from an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph of an ox head. The Phoenicians turned it upside down, and it became 'aleph' meaning ox.

B comes from the Egyptian hieroglyph for 'house' (bet). The bumps of the letter B originally represented the floor plan of a shelter.

C and G were once the same letter. The Romans added a stroke to create G, keeping C for the 'k' sound.

D originated from a hieroglyph for 'door' (dalet). The triangular shape represented a tent door or simple doorway.

E is the most common letter in English, appearing in about 11% of all words. It comes from the hieroglyph for 'man celebrating.'

F evolved from the Phoenician 'waw' which meant 'hook.' It originally made a 'w' sound before shifting to 'f.'

G was invented by the Romans around 230 BC. Before that, C did double duty for both 'k' and 'g' sounds.

H comes from a hieroglyph depicting a fence or wall. It represented the sound of breathing out.

I was the last letter to receive its dot. Medieval scribes added dots to distinguish it from similar strokes.

J is the newest letter in the English alphabet, only becoming distinct from I in the 1600s.

K was borrowed from Greek but rarely used in Latin. English revived it for words from Germanic languages.

L represents an ox goad (a stick used to herd cattle). Its vertical stroke with a foot dates back to Egyptian times.

M resembles waves and originally meant 'water' in Egyptian. The zigzag pattern represents rippling water.

N evolved from the Egyptian symbol for snake. The letter captures the serpent's slithering motion.

O is one of the oldest letters, virtually unchanged for 3,000 years. It represented the 'eye' in ancient scripts.

P comes from the Phoenician 'pe' meaning 'mouth.' The rounded shape suggests lips in profile.

Q almost always needs U after it in English. This pairing comes from Latin spelling conventions.

R originally depicted a human head in profile. The Romans added a leg to distinguish it from P.

S mimics the shape of a snake, fitting since its Phoenician ancestor 'shin' meant 'tooth' or 'sharp.'

T comes from the last letter of the Phoenician alphabet, 'taw' meaning 'mark' – like a signature X.

U, V, and W were all the same letter until the Middle Ages. U became distinct for the vowel sound.

V is the oldest of the U-V-W family, used by Romans for both 'u' and 'v' sounds.

W literally means 'double U.' It developed in medieval times to represent the Germanic 'w' sound.

X has represented different sounds across languages. In English, it typically makes a 'ks' sound.

Y is called 'the sometimes vowel' because it can make both vowel and consonant sounds.

Z was removed from the Roman alphabet then reinstated for Greek words. It's the least used letter in English.