E: Difference between revisions

{{Distinguish|text=the [[Ҽ|Cyrillic letter Ҽ]]}}

{{About|the letter|the number|e (mathematical constant)|other uses of the symbol '''e''' or '''E'''|E (disambiguation)}}

|type = [[Alphabet]]

|typedesc = ic

|unicode=U+0045, U+0065

|alphanumber=5

|fam1=<hiero>A28</hiero>

|fam2=[[Image:Proto-semiticE-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Heh]]

|usageperiod={{circa}} 700 BCE to present

|sisters={{flex list|[[Е]]|[[Э]]|[[Є]]|[[Ё]]|[[Ә]]|[[Һ]]|[[He (letter)|ה&nbsp;ه&nbsp;ܗ]]|[[Ɛ]]|[[wikt:Ե|Ե]] [[wikt:ե|ե]]|[[wikt:Է|Է]] [[wikt:է|է]]|[[wikt:Ը|Ը]] [[wikt:ը|ը]]|[[ࠄ]]|[[𐎅]]|[[Ⲉ]]}}

|equivalents=

{{Latin letter info|e}}

It is the most commonly used letter in many languages, including [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Latin language|Latin]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Swedish language|Swedish]].<ref name="Brian Kelk">{{cite web|url=https://www.bckelk.org.uk/words/etaoin.html|title=Letter frequencies|last=Kelk|first=Brian|access-date=2022-02-02|archive-date=2008-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509055951/http://www.bckelk.ukfsn.org/words/etaoin.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html |title=Relative Frequencies of Letters in General English Plain text |last=Lewand |first=Robert |work=Cryptographical Mathematics |publisher=[[Central College (Iowa)|Central College]] |access-date=2008-06-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708193159/http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html |archive-date=2008-07-08 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqsp.shtml|title=Frequency of Occurrence of Letters in Spanish|publisher=Santa Cruz Public Libraries|access-date=2008-06-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511220207/http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqsp.shtml|archive-date=2008-05-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqfr.shtml|title=Frequency of Occurrence of Letters in French|publisher=Santa Cruz Public Libraries|access-date=2008-06-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312222737/http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqfr.shtml|archive-date=2008-03-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqger.shtml|title=Frequency of Occurrence of Letters in German|publisher=Santa Cruz Public Libraries|access-date=2008-06-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120628214132/http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqger.shtml|archive-date=2012-06-28}}</ref>

==Name==

In English, the name of the letter is the "long E" sound, pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|iː}}. In most other languages, its name matches the letter's pronunciation in [[open syllable]]s.

==History==

{| class="wikitable"

|--- align=center

| <hiero>A28</hiero>

The Latin letter 'E' differs little from its source, the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] letter [[epsilon]], 'Ε'. This in turn comes from the [[Semitic alphabet|Semitic]] letter ''[[He (letter)|hê]]'', 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]] that indicated a different pronunciation.

==Use in writing systems==

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"

|+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|e}} by language

|-

| {{IPAslink|ə}}

|-

|-

! [[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]]  

|-

! [[Spanish orthography|Spanish]]

|-

! [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]]

|}

* Æ æ: [[Æ|Latin ''AE'']] ligature

* Œ œ: [[Œ|Latin ''OE'']] ligature

* [[Phonetic transcription#Alphabetic|Phonetic alphabet]] symbols related to E (the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] only uses lowercase, but uppercase forms are used in some other writing systems):

** Ɛ ɛ: [[Ɛ|Latin letter epsilon]] / open e, which represents an [[open-mid front unrounded vowel]] in the IPA

** 𐞏: Modifier letter small closed reversed open e, which is a [[International Phonetic Alphabet#Superscript IPA|superscript IPA]] letter<ref name="L220252"/>

** Ə ə: Latin letter [[Ə|schwa]], which represents a [[mid central vowel]] in the IPA

** ɘ: Latin letter reversed e, which represents a [[close-mid central unrounded vowel]] in the IPA

** 𐞎: Modifier letter small reversed e, which is a [[International Phonetic Alphabet#Superscript IPA|superscript IPA]] letter<ref name="L220252">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730010133/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf |archive-date=2021-07-30 |url-status=live|date=2020-11-08|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Michael|last2=Ashby}}</ref>

**{{Unichar|1D07|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL E}}

**{{Unichar|1D08|LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED OPEN E}}