List of Latin-script digraphs

This is alist ofdigraphsused in variousLatin alphabets.In the list,letterswithdiacriticsare arranged inalphabetical orderaccording to their base, e.g.⟨å⟩is alphabetised with⟨a⟩,not at the end of the alphabet, as it would be inDanish,NorwegianandSwedish.Substantially-modified letters, such as⟨ſ⟩(a variant of⟨s⟩) and⟨ɔ⟩(based on⟨o⟩), are placed at the end.

Capitalisationonly involves the first letter (⟨ch⟩becomes⟨Ch⟩) unless otherwise stated (⟨ij⟩becomes⟨IJ⟩inDutch,and digraphs markingeclipsisinIrish,are capitalised on the second letter, i.e.⟨mb⟩becomes⟨mB⟩).

Apostrophe

⟨ʼb⟩(capital⟨ʼB⟩) is used inBarifor/ɓ/.

⟨ʼd⟩(capital⟨ʼD⟩) is used in Bari for/ɗ/.

⟨ʼm⟩is used inthe Wu MiniDict Romanisationfordark oryintone/m/.It is also often written as/ʔm/.

⟨ʼn⟩is used in the Wu MiniDict Romanisation for dark/n/.

⟨ʼng⟩is used in the Wu MiniDict Romanisation for dark/ŋ/.

⟨ʼny⟩is used in the Wu MiniDict Romanisation for dark/ȵ/.

⟨ʼy⟩(capital⟨ʼY⟩) is used in Bari andHausa(in Nigeria) for/ʔʲ/,but in Niger, Hausa⟨ʼy⟩is replaced with⟨ƴ ⟩.

A

⟨aʼ⟩is used inTaafor theglottalizedorcreaky-voicedvowel/a̰/.

⟨aa⟩is used inDutch,Finnishand other languages with phonemic long vowels for/aː/.It wasformerly used in Danish and Norwegian(and still is in some proper names) for[ɔ]or[ʌ](in Danish), until it was replaced with⟨å⟩.There is a ligature⟨Ꜳ⟩.InCantoneseRomanisations such asJyutpingorYale,it is used for/a/,which contrasts with⟨a⟩/ɐ/.

⟨ae⟩is used inIrishfor/eː/between two "broad" (velarized) consonants, e.g.Gael/ɡeːlˠ/"aGael".

InLatin,⟨ae⟩originally represented thediphthong/ae/,before it wasmonophthongizedin theVulgar Latinperiod to/ɛ/;in medieval manuscripts, the digraph was frequently replaced by theligature⟨æ⟩.

In Modern English, Latin loanwords with⟨ae⟩are generally pronounced with/iː/(e.g.Caesar), promptingNoah Websterto shorten this to⟨e⟩in his 1806spelling reformforAmerican English.

InGerman,⟨ae⟩is a variant of⟨ä⟩found in some proper names or in contexts where⟨ä⟩is unavailable.

InDutch,⟨ae⟩is an old spelling variant of⟨aa⟩but now only occurs in names of people or (less often) places and in a few loanwords from Greek and Latin.

InZhuang,⟨ae⟩represents/a/(⟨a⟩represents/aː/).

InRevised Romanization of Korean,⟨ae⟩represents/ɛ/.

⟨ãe⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ɐ̃ĩ̯/.

⟨ah⟩is used inTaafor breathy ormurmured/a̤/.InGermanandEnglishit typically represents along vowel/ɑː/.

⟨ai⟩is used in many languages, typically representing the diphthong/aɪ/.InEnglish,due to theGreat Vowel Shift,it represents/eɪ/as inpainandrain,while in unstressed syllables it may represent/ə/,e.g.bargainandcertain(ly).InFrench,it represents/ɛ/.In Irish and it represents/a/between a broad and a slender consonant. InScottish Gaelic,it represents/a/or/ɛ/between a broad and a slender consonant, except when preceding word-final or pre-consonant⟨ll, m, nn⟩(e.g.cainnt/kʰaiɲtʲ/,or pre-consonant⟨bh, mh⟩(e.g.aimhreit/ˈaivɾʲɪtʲ/.In theKernowek Standardorthography ofCornish,it represents/eː/,mostly in loanwords from English such aspaint.

⟨aí⟩is used inIrishfor/iː/between a broad and a slender consonant.

⟨aî⟩is used inFrenchfor/ɛː/,as inaînesse/ɛːnɛs/ormaître/mɛːtʁ/.

⟨ái⟩is used in Irish for/aː/between a broad and a slender consonant.

⟨ài⟩is used in Scottish Gaelic for/aː/or sometimes/ɛː/,between a broad and a slender consonant.

⟨ãi⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ɐ̃ĩ̯/,usually spelt⟨ãe⟩.

⟨am⟩is used in Portuguese for/ɐ̃ũ̯/word finally,/ɐ̃/before a consonant, and/am/before a vowel. In French, it represents/ɑ̃/.

⟨âm⟩is used in Portuguese for astressed/ɐ̃/before a consonant.

⟨an⟩is used in many languages to write anasal vowel.In Portuguese it is used for/ɐ̃/before a consonant. In French it represents/ɑ̃/(/an/before a vowel). InBretonit represents/ɑ̃n/.

⟨aⁿ⟩is used inHokkienPe̍h-ōe-jīfor/ã/.

⟨ân⟩is used in Portuguese for astressed/ɐ̃/before a consonant.

⟨än⟩is used inTibetan Pinyinfor/ɛ̃/.It is alternately written⟨ain⟩.

⟨ån⟩is used inWalloon,for the nasal vowel/ɔ̃/.

⟨aŋ⟩is used inLakhotafor the nasal vowel/ã/

⟨ao⟩is used in many languages, such asPiedmonteseandMandarinPinyin,to represent/au̯/.InIrish,it represents/iː/(/eː/inMunster) between broad consonants. InScottish Gaelic,it represents/ɯː/between broad consonants. InFrench,it is found in a few words such aspaonrepresenting/ɑ̃/and aspaonnerepresenting/a/.InMalagasy,it represents/o/.InWymysorys,it represents/œʏ̯/.

⟨ão⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ɐ̃ũ̯/.

⟨aq⟩is used inTaa,for thepharyngealizedvowel/aˤ/.

⟨au⟩is used inEnglishfor/ɔː/.It occasionally represents/aʊ/,as inflautist.Other pronunciations are/æ/or/ɑː/(depending on dialect) inauntandlaugh,/eɪ/ingauge,/oʊ/ingaucheandchauffeur,and/ə/as inmeerschaumandrestaurant.

InGermanandDutch,it represents/au/and/ʌu/,respectively (/au/in some northern and/ɔu/in some southern Dutch and some Flemish dialects).

InFrench,it represents/o/or sometimes/ɔ/.

InIcelandicandNorwegianit represents/œy/and/æʉ/,respectively.

In severalRomanizations of Wu Chinese,it represents/ɔ/.

In theCornishKernowek Standard,it is used for/ɔ(ː)/,as incaul"cabbage" ordauncya"to dance".

⟨äu⟩is used inGermanfor the diphthong/ɔɪ/in declension of native words with⟨au⟩;elsewhere,/ɔɪ/is written as⟨eu⟩.In words, mostly of Latin origin, where⟨ä⟩and⟨u⟩are separated by a syllable boundary, it represents/ɛ.ʊ/,e.g.Matthäus(a German form forMatthew).

⟨aw⟩is used inEnglishin ways that parallel English⟨au⟩,though it appears more often at the end of a word. InCornish,it represents/aʊ/or/æʊ/.InWelsh,it represents/au/.

⟨ay⟩is used in English in ways that parallel⟨ai⟩,though it appears more often at the end of a word. In French, it represents/ɛj/before a vowel (as inayant) and/ɛ.i/before a consonant (as inpays). InCornish,it represents/aɪ/,/əɪ/,/ɛː/,or/eː/.

⟨a_e⟩(asplit digraph) is used in English for/eɪ/.

B

⟨bb⟩is used inPinyinfor/b/in languages such asYi,where⟨b⟩stands for/p/.It was used inPortugueseuntil 1947. It had the same sound as⟨b⟩.Was used only for etymological purposes. InHungarian,it representsgeminated/bː/.In English, doubling a letter indicates that the previous vowel is short (so⟨bb⟩represents/b/). In ISO romanizedKorean,it is used for the fortis sound/p͈/,otherwise spelled⟨pp⟩;e.g.hobbang.InHadzait represents the ejective/pʼ/.In several African languages it is implosive/ɓ/.InCypriot Arabicit is/bʱ/.

⟨bd⟩is used inEnglishfor/d/in a few words of Greek origin, such asbdellatomy.When not initial, it represents/bd/,as inabdicate.

⟨bf⟩is used inBavarianand severalAfrican languagesfor the/b̪͡v/.

⟨bh⟩is used in transcriptions ofIndo-Aryan languagesfor amurmuredvoiced bilabial plosive(/bʱ/), and for equivalent sounds in other languages. InJuǀʼhoan,it's used for the similarprevoicedaspirated plosive/b͡pʰ/.It is used inIrishto represent/w/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) and/vʲ/(beside⟨e, i⟩), word-initially it marks thelenitionof⟨b⟩,e.g.mo bhád/mˠəwaːd̪ˠ/"my boat",bheadh/vʲɛx/"would be". InScottish Gaelic,it represents/v/,or in a few contexts as/w/~/u/between a broad vowel and a broad consonant or between two broad vowels, as inlabhair/l̪ˠau.ɪɾʲ/.In theorthography used in Guinea before 1985,⟨bh⟩was used inPular(aFula language) for thevoiced bilabial implosive/ɓ/,whereas inXhosa,Zulu,andShona,⟨b⟩represents the implosive and⟨bh⟩represents the plosive/b/.In some orthographies ofDan,⟨b⟩is/b/and⟨bh⟩is/ɓ/.

⟨bm⟩is used inCornishfor an optionallypre-occluded/m/;that is, it represents either/m/or/mː/(in any position);/ᵇm/(before a consonant or finally); or/bm/(before a vowel); examples aremabm('mother') orhebma('this').

⟨bp⟩is used inSandaweand romanizedThaifor/p/.⟨bp⟩(capital⟨bP⟩) is used inIrish,as theeclipsisof⟨p⟩,to represent/bˠ/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) and/bʲ/(beside⟨e, i⟩).

⟨bv⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor thevoiced labiodental affricate/b̪͡v/.

⟨bz⟩is used inShonafor awhistled sibilantcluster/bz͎/.

C

⟨cc⟩is used in Andean Spanish for loanwords fromQuechuaorAymarawith/q/,as inCcozcco(modernQusqu)('Cuzco'). InItalian,⟨cc⟩before afront vowelrepresents a geminated/tʃ/,as inlacci/ˈlat.tʃi/.InPiedmonteseandLombard,⟨cc⟩represents the/tʃ/sound at the end of a word. InHadzait is the glottalized click/ᵑǀˀ/.In Englishcripslang,⟨cc⟩can sometimes replace the letters⟨ck⟩or⟨ct⟩at the ends of words, such as withthicc,protecc,succandfucc.

⟨cg⟩was used for[ddʒ]or[gg]in Old English (ecgin Old English sounded like 'edge' in Modern English, whilefrocgasounded like 'froga'), where both arelong consonants.It is used for the click/ǀχ/inNaro,and in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thevoiceless dental click/ǀ/.

⟨ch⟩is used in several languages. In English, it can represent/tʃ/,/k/,/ʃ/,/x/or/h/.See article.

⟨çh⟩is used inManxfor/tʃ/,as a distinction from⟨ch⟩which is used for/x/.

⟨čh⟩is used inRomaniand theChechenLatin alphabet for/tʃʰ/.In theOsseteLatin alphabet, it was used for/tʃʼ/.

⟨ci⟩is used in theItalianfor/tʃ/before the non-front vowel letters⟨a, o, u⟩.InEnglish,it usually represents/ʃ/whenever it precedes any vowel other than⟨i⟩.InPolish,it represents/t͡ɕ/whenever it precedes a vowel, and/t͡ɕi/whenever it precedes a consonant (or in the end of the word), and is considered a graphic variant of⟨ć⟩appearing in other situations. In Romanian, it represents/tʃ/.The digraph is found at the end of a word (deci, atunci, copaci) or before the letters a, o, or u (ciorba, ciuleandra); the/tʃ/sound made by the letter c in front of the letters e or i becomes/k/in front of the three aforementioned vowels, making the addition of the letter i necessary.

⟨cj⟩is used inFriulianfor/c/such as in wordscjocolate/cokoˈlate/.It's also used in local orthographies ofLombardto represent/tʃ/derived from Latin⟨cl⟩.

⟨ck⟩is used in manyGermanic languagesin lieu of⟨kk⟩or⟨cc⟩to indicate either ageminated/kː/,or a/k/with a preceding (historically)short vowel.The latter is the case with Englishtack,deck,pick,lock,andbuck(comparebackerwithbaker). InGerman,⟨ck⟩indicates that the preceding vowel is short. Prior to theGerman spelling reform of 1996,it was replaced by⟨k-k⟩for syllabification. The new spelling rules allow only syllabification of the⟨ck⟩as a whole:

• Old spelling:Säcke:Säk-ke('sacks')
• New spelling:Säcke:Sä-cke

Among the modern Germanic languages,⟨ck⟩is used mainly inAlsatian,English,German,Luxembourgish,Scots,Swedish,and otherWest Germanic languagesinAustria,GermanyandSwitzerland.Similarly,⟨kk⟩is used for the same purpose inAfrikaans,Danish,Dutch,Icelandic,Norwegian,and other West Germanic languages in theNetherlandsandBelgium.Compare the wordnickel,which is the same in many of these languages except for the customary⟨ck⟩or⟨kk⟩spelling. The word isnickelin English and Swedish,Nickelin German, andnikkelin Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Icelandic and Norwegian.

It was also used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thevoiceless dental click/ǀ/(equivalent to⟨cg⟩).

It is also used inCornishfor/k/at the end of a syllable after a short vowel; only in loanwords (mostly from English) in theStandard Written Form(SWF),more widely inKernowek Standard.

⟨cn⟩is used inEnglishfor/n/in a few words of Greek origin, such ascnidarian.When not initial, it represents/kn/,as inacne.It is used inScottish Gaelicfor/kʰr/,and nasalises the following vowel, as incneap/kʰrʲɛ̃hb/.

⟨cö⟩is used inSerifor alabializedvelar plosive,/kʷ/.It is placed between⟨c⟩and⟨d⟩inalphabetical order.

⟨cr⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor/ʈʂ/.

⟨cs⟩is used in theHungarianfor avoiceless postalveolar affricate,/tʃ/.It is considered a distinct letter, namedcsé,and is placed between⟨c⟩and⟨d⟩inalphabetical order.Examples of words with⟨cs⟩includecsak('only'),csésze('cup'),cső('pipe'),csípős('peppery').

⟨ct⟩is used inEnglishfor/t/in a few words of Greek origin, such asctenoid.When not initial, it represents/kt/,as inact.Is used inPortuguesefor/t/in some words, e.g.retrospectobut not intacto.

⟨cu⟩is used in languages such asNahuatl(that is, based onSpanishorPortuguese orthography) for/kʷ/.In Nahuatl,⟨cu⟩is used before a vowel, whereas⟨uc⟩is used after a vowel.

⟨cw⟩is used in modern scholarly editions of Old English for the sound/kw/,which was spelled⟨cƿ⟩,⟨cuu⟩or⟨cu⟩in manuscripts. In Middle English these were all replaced by Latin⟨qu⟩.

⟨cx⟩is used inEsperantoasan unofficial surrogateof⟨ĉ⟩,which represents/tʃ/.

⟨cz⟩is used inPolishfor/ʈ͡ʂ/as in('hello'). InKashubian,⟨cz⟩represents/tʃ/.InFrenchandCatalan,historical⟨cz⟩contracted to theligature⟨ç⟩which represents/s/,in French, when followed by⟨a, o, u⟩.InHungarian,it was formerly used for the sound/ts/,which is now written⟨c⟩.InEnglish,⟨cz⟩is used to represent/tʃ/in theloanwordsCzech,andCzechia.

D

⟨dc⟩is used inNarofor the click/ᶢǀ/,and inJuǀʼhoanfor theprevoiced ejective/d͡tʃʼ/.

⟨dd⟩is used inEnglishto indicate a/d/with a preceding (historically) short vowel (e.g.jaded/ˈdʒeɪdɨd/has a "long a" whileladder/ˈlædər/has a "short a" ). InWelsh,⟨dd⟩represents avoiced dental fricative/ð/.It is treated as a distinct letter, namedèdd,and placed between⟨D⟩and⟨E⟩inalphabetical order.In the ISO romanization ofKorean,it is used for the fortis sound/t͈/,otherwise spelled⟨tt⟩;examples areddeokbokkiandbindaeddeok.InBasque,it represents avoiced palatal plosive/ɟ/,as inonddo"mushroom". In several African languages it is implosive/ɗ/.Latin delta(ẟ, lowercase only) is represented by "dd" inModern Welsh.

⟨dg⟩is used inEnglishfor/dʒ/in certain contexts, such as withjudgementandhedge

⟨dh⟩is used in theAlbanian,Swahili,and revivedCornishfor thevoiced dental fricative/ð/.The first examples of this digraph are from theOaths of Strasbourg,the earliest French text, where it denotes the same sound/ð/developed mainly from intervocalic Latin -t-. In early traditional Cornish⟨ȝ⟩(yogh), and later⟨th⟩,were used for this purpose.Edward Lhuydis credited for introducing the grapheme to Cornish orthography in 1707 in hisArchaeologia Britannica.InIrishit represents/ɣ/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) or/j/(beside⟨e, i⟩); at the beginning of a word it shows thelenitionof⟨d⟩,e.g.mo dhoras/mˠəɣɔɾˠəsˠ/"my door" (cf.doras/d̪ˠɔɾˠəsˠ/"door" ). InScottish Gaelicit represents/ɣ/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) or/ʝ/or/j/(beside⟨e, i⟩).

In thepre-1985 orthography of Guinea,⟨dh⟩was used for thevoiced alveolar implosive/ɗ/inPular.It is currently written⟨ɗ⟩.In the orthography ofShonait is the opposite:⟨dh⟩represents/d/,and⟨d⟩/ɗ/.In thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languages,⟨dh⟩represents a dental stop,/t̪/.

In addition,⟨dh⟩is used in various romanization systems. In transcriptions ofIndo-Aryan languages,for example, it represents themurmuredvoiced dental plosive/d̪ʱ/,and for equivalent sounds in other languages. InJuǀʼhoan,it's used for the similarprevoicedaspirated plosive/d͡tʰ/.In theromanization of Arabic,it denotes⟨ﺫ⟩,which represents/ð/inModern Standard Arabic.

Represents /ɖ/ in Javanese and Somali.

⟨dj⟩is used inFaroese,Portuguese,Frenchand many French-based orthographies for/dʒ/.In thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languagessuch asWarlpiri,Arrernte,andPitjantjatjara,it represents a postalveolar stop such as/ṯ/or/ḏ/;this sound is also written⟨dy⟩,⟨tj⟩,⟨ty⟩,or⟨c⟩.It is also formerly used in Indonesian as/d͡ʒ/.

⟨dl⟩is used inHmong’sRomanized Popular Alphabetfor/tˡ/.InNavajo,it represents/tɬ/,and inXhosait represents/ɮ̈/.InHadzait is ejective/cʎʼ/.

⟨dł⟩is used inTlingitfor/tɬ/(in Alaska,⟨dl⟩is used instead).

⟨dm⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulatedandnasally released/t͡pn͡m/.

⟨dn⟩is used inYélî Dnyefornasally released/tn/.InCornish,it is used for an optionallypre-occluded/n/;that is, it is pronounced either/n/or/nː/(in any position);/ᵈn/(before a consonant or finally); or/dn/(before a vowel); examples arepedn('head') orpednow('heads').

⟨dp⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulated/t͡p/.

⟨dq⟩is used for the click/ᶢǃ/inNaro.

⟨dr⟩is used inMalagasyfor/ɖʐ/.See⟨tr⟩.It is used inFijianfor 'ndr' nasalized (/ɳɖr/). In some Amerindian languages it represents /ʈʂ/ as in Gwichʼin and sporatically /ɖ/ everywhere as in Paiwan and Maba

⟨ds⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor theprevoiced ejective/d͡tsʼ/.

⟨dt⟩is used inGerman,Swedish,andSandaweorthography as well as the romanization ofThaifor/t/.⟨dt⟩(capital⟨dT⟩) is used inIrish,as theeclipsisof⟨t⟩,to represent/d̪ˠ/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) and/tʲ/(beside⟨e, i⟩).

⟨dv⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor thevoiced dental affricate/d͡ð/.

⟨dx⟩is used in someZapotecan languagesfor avoiced postalveolar fricative/ʒ/.(It is placed between⟨D⟩and⟨E⟩inalphabetical order.) InJuǀʼhoanit is used for theprevoiceduvularized plosive/d͡tᵡ/.

⟨dy⟩is used inXhosafor/dʲʱ/.InShona,it represents/dʒɡ/.InTagalogit is used for/dʒ/.In thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languagessuch asWarlpiri,Arrernte,andPitjantjatjara,it represents a postalveolar stop such as/ṯ/or/ḏ/.This sound is also written⟨tj⟩,⟨dj⟩,⟨ty⟩,⟨c⟩,or⟨j⟩.

⟨dz⟩is used in several languages, often to represent/d͡z/.See article.

⟨dź⟩is used in thePolishandSorbianalphabets for/d͡ʑ/,thevoiced alveolo-palatal affricate,as indźwięk/d͡ʑvʲɛŋk/.⟨dź⟩is never written before avowel(⟨dzi⟩is used instead, as indziecko/d͡ʑɛt͡skɔ/'child').

⟨dż⟩is used in thePolishfor avoiced retroflex affricate/d͡ʐ/(e.g.'jam').

⟨dž⟩is used inSerbo-Croatian,Slovak,Lithuanian,andLatvianto represent/d͡ʒ/.See article.

E

⟨e′⟩is used inTaa,where it represents theglottalisedorcreakyvowel/ḛ/.

⟨ea⟩is used in manylanguages.InEnglish,⟨ea⟩usually represents the monophthong/iː/as inmeat;due to asound changethat happened in Middle English, it also often represents the vowel/ɛ/as insweat.Rare pronunciations occur, like/eɪ/inbreak,great,steak,andyea,and/ɔː/in the archaicealdorman.When followed by⟨r⟩,it can represent the standard outcomes of the previously mentioned three vowels in this environment:/ɪər/as inbeard,/ɜːr/as inheard,and/ɛər/as inbear,respectively; as another exception,/ɑr/occurs in the wordshearken,heart,andhearth.It often represents two independent vowels, like/eɪ.ɑː/(seance),/i.æ/(reality),/i.eɪ/(create), and/i.ɪ/or/i.ə/(lineage). Unstressed, it may represent/jə/(ocean) and/ɪ/or/ə/(Eleanor). InRomanian,it represents the diphthong/e̯a/as inbeată('drunk female'). InIrish,⟨ea⟩represents/a/between a slender and a broad consonant. InScottish Gaelic,⟨ea⟩represents/ʲa/,/ɛ/or/e/between a slender and a broad context, depending on context or dialect. InOld English,it represents the diphthong/æɑ̯/.⟨Ea⟩is also the transliteration of the⟨ᛠ⟩rune of theAnglo-Frisian Futhorc.

⟨eá⟩is used inIrishfor/aː/between a slender and a broad consonant.

⟨eà⟩is used inScottish Gaelicfor/ʲaː/between a slender and a broad consonant.

⟨éa⟩is used inIrishfor/eː/between a slender and a broad consonant.

⟨èa⟩is used inScottish Gaelicfor/ia/between a slender and a broad consonant, unless the broad consonant is m, mh, or p, in which case it represents/ɛ/.

⟨ee⟩represents a long mid vowel in a number of languages. InEnglish,⟨ee⟩represents/iː/as inteen.InDutchandGerman,⟨ee⟩represents/eː/(though it is pronounced[eɪ]in majority of northern Dutch dialects). In theCantonese Romanisation,it represents/iː/as in English, or/ei/for characters which might be pronounced as/iː/inother dialects.InBouyei,⟨ee⟩is used for plain/e/,as⟨e⟩stands for/ɯ/.

⟨eh⟩is used inTaafor themurmuredvowel/e̤/.In theWade-Gilestransliteration ofMandarin Chinese,it is used for/ɛ/after a consonant, as inyeh/jɛ/.InGerman,⟨eh⟩represents/eː/,as inReh.

⟨ei⟩This digraph was taken over fromMiddle High German,where it represented/eɪ/.It usually represents adiphthong.InModern German,⟨ei⟩is predominant in representing/aɪ/,as inEinstein,while the equivalent digraph⟨ai⟩appears in only a few words. InEnglish,⟨ei⟩can represent many sounds, including/eɪ/,as invein,/i/as inseize,/aɪ/as inheist,/ɛ/as inheifer,/æ/as inenceinte,and/ɪ/or/ə/as inforfeit.See alsoI before e except after c.In southern and westernFaroesedialects, it represents the diphthong/aɪ/,while in northern and eastern dialects, it represents the diphthong/ɔɪ/.InPortuguese,⟨ei⟩represents/ɐj/inGreater Lisbon,so do⟨éi⟩and⟨êi⟩,but/ej~e/or/ɛj/in Brazil, East Timor, Macau, rest of Portugal, and Portuguese-speaking African countries,

InWelsh,⟨ei⟩represents/əi/.InIrishandScottish Gaelic,it represents/ɛ/or/e/,or/ɪ/when unstressed, before a slender consonant. InDutchandAfrikaans,⟨ei⟩represents/ɛi/.InFrench,⟨ei⟩represents/ɛ/,as inseiche.

InHepburn romanizationof theJapanese languageit is used to transcribe the sound/eː/.

⟨eî⟩is used inFrenchfor/ɛː/,as inreître/ʁɛːtʁ/.

⟨éi⟩is used inIrishfor/eː/between slender consonants.

⟨èi⟩is used inScottish Gaelicfor/ɛː/or/eː/between slender consonants.

⟨ej⟩is used inSwedishin some short words, such asleja/leːja/ornej/nɛj/.

⟨em⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ɐĩ̯~ẽĩ̯/at the end of a word and/ẽ/before a consonant. In French orthography, it represents a /ɑ̃/ when it is followed by a b or a p.

⟨ẽm⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ẽĩ/at the end of a word.

⟨ém⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ɐĩ̯~ẽĩ̯/at the end of a word.

⟨êm⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ɐĩ̯~ẽĩ̯/at the end of a word and/ẽ/before a consonant.

⟨en⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ɐĩ̯~ẽĩ̯/at the end of a word followed or not by an/s/as inhífenorhifens;and for/ẽ/before a consonant within a word. InFrench,it represents/ɑ̃/or/ɛ̃/.

⟨én⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ɐĩ̯~ẽĩ̯/before a consonant.

⟨ên⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ẽ/before a consonant.

⟨eo⟩is used inIrishfor/oː/(/ɔ/in 4 words) between a slender and a broad consonant. In Scottish Gaelic it is used for/ʲɔ/between a slender and a broad consonant. In theJyutpingromanization ofCantonese,it represents/ɵ/,an allophone of/œː/,while in theCantonese Romanisation,it represents/œː/.In theRevised Romanization of Korean,⟨eo⟩represents theopen-mid back unrounded vowel/ʌ/,and inPiedmonteseit is/ɛu̯/.InEnglish⟨eo⟩is a rare digraph without a single pronunciation, representing/ɛ/infeoff,jeopardy,leopardand the given namesGeoffreyandLeonard,/iː/inpeople,/oʊ/inyeomanand/juː/in the archaicfeodary,while in the originally Gaelic nameMacLeodit represents/aʊ/.However, usually it represents two vowels, like/iː.ə/inleotardandgalleon,/iː.oʊ/instereoand,/iː.ɒ/ingeodesy,and, uniquely,/uː.iː/ingeoduck.

⟨eò⟩is used inScottish Gaelicfor/jɔː/word-initially, and/ɔː/elsewhere.

⟨eq⟩is used inTaafor thepharyngealizedvowel/eˤ/.

⟨eu⟩is found in manylanguages,most commonly for the diphthong/eu/.Additionally, inEnglish,⟨eu⟩represents/juː/as inneuter(/uː/in yod-dropping accents); however, the⟨eu⟩in "maneuver/manoeuvre" always represents/uː/even in most non yod-dropping accents. InGerman,it represents/ɔʏ/as inDeutsch;and inFrench,Dutch,Breton,andPiedmontese,it represents/ø/.InCornish,it represents either long/øː~œː/and short/œ/or long/eː/and short/ɛ/.InScottish Gaelicit normally represents/ia/,as inbeul/pial̪ˠ/,except when preceding⟨m⟩(e.g.leum/ʎeːm/) and usually⟨b, mh, bh⟩,or in certain high-register words such astreun/t̪ʰɾeːn/where it represents/eː/,and in southern dialects it is/eː/in most contexts. InYale romanization of Cantoneseit represents/ɵ~œː/,while in theCantonese Romanisation,it represents/œː/.In romanization ofWu Chinese,it represents/ø/,depending on the lect. InSundaneseandAcehnese,it represents/ɤ/as inbeureum('red'). In theRevised Romanization of Korean,it represents/ɯ/.

⟨eû⟩is used inFrenchfor/ø/,as injeûne/ʒøn/.

⟨ew⟩is used inEnglishfor/juː/as infewandflew.An exception is the pronunciation/oʊ/insew,leading to theheteronymsewer,(/ˈsuːər/,'drain') vssewer(/ˈsoʊər/,'one who sews'). InCornish,it stands for/ɛʊ/.

⟨êw⟩is used in theKernowek Standardorthography ofCornishto refer to a sound that can be either/ɛʊ/or/oʊ/.This distribution can also be written⟨ôw⟩.

⟨ey⟩is used inEnglishfor a variety of sounds, including/eɪ/inthey,/iː/inkey,and/aɪ/ingeyser.InFaroese,it represents the diphthong/ɛɪ/.InCornish,it represents the diphthong/ɛɪ/or/əɪ/.

⟨e_e⟩(asplit digraph) indicates an English'long e',historically/e:/but now most commonly realised as/i:/.

⟨eⁿ⟩is used for/ẽ/inHokkienPe̍h-ōe-jī.

F

⟨ff⟩,which may be written as thetypographic ligature⟨ff⟩,is used inEnglishandCornishfor the same sound as single⟨f⟩,/f/.The doubling is used to indicate that the preceding vowel is (historically) short, or foretymologicalreasons, inlatinisms.Very rarely,⟨ff⟩may be found word-initiallyin English, such as in proper names (e.g.,Rose ffrench,Jasper Fforde). InWelsh,⟨ff⟩represents/f/,while⟨f⟩represents/v/.In Welsh,⟨ff⟩is considered a distinct letter, and placed between⟨f⟩and⟨g⟩inalphabetical order.In medievalBreton,vowel nasalisation was represented by a following⟨ff⟩.This notation was reformed during the 18th century, though proper names retain the former convention, which leads to occasional mispronunciation.

⟨fh⟩is used inIrishandScottish Gaelicfor thelenitionof⟨f⟩.This happens to be silent, so that⟨fh⟩in Gaelic corresponds to no sound at all, e.g. the Irish phrasecá fhad/kaːˈad̪ˠ/"how long", wherefhadis the lenited form offad/fˠad̪ˠ/"long". However, in three Scottish Gaelic words,fhèin,fhuair,andfhathast,it is pronounced as/h/.

⟨fx⟩is used inNambikwarafor aglottalized/ɸʔ/.

G

⟨gʻ⟩is used inUzbekto represent/ɣ/.

⟨gb⟩is used in someAfrican languagesfor avoiced labial-velar plosive,/ɡ͡b/.

⟨gc⟩is used in languages, such asXhosaandZulu,for the click/ᶢǀ/.⟨gc⟩(capital⟨gC⟩) is used inIrish,as theeclipsisof⟨c⟩,to represent/g/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) and/ɟ/(beside⟨e, i⟩).

⟨ge⟩is used inFrenchfor/ʒ/before⟨e, i⟩as ingeôle/ʒol/.

⟨gg⟩is used inEnglishfor/ɡ/before⟨y⟩,⟨i⟩and⟨e⟩(e.g.doggy). It is also used inPinyinfor/ɡ/in languages such asYi.InCentral Alaskan Yup'ik,it represents/x/.InGreenlandic,it represents/çː/.In the ISO romanization ofKorean,it is used for the fortis sound/k͈/,otherwise spelled⟨kk⟩(e.g.ggakdugi). InHadzait is ejective/kxʼ/.InItalian,⟨gg⟩before afront vowelrepresents a geminated/dʒ/,as inlegge/ˈled.dʒe/.InPiedmonteseandLombard,⟨gg⟩is an etymological spelling representing an/tʃ/at the end of a word which is the unvoicing of an ancient/dʒ/.

⟨gh⟩is used in several languages. In English, it can be silent or represent/ɡ/or/f/.See article.

⟨gi⟩is used inVietnamesefor/z/in northern dialects and/j/in the southern ones. InItalian,it represents/dʒ/before the non-front vowel letters⟨a o u⟩.InRomanshit represents/dʑ/before⟨a o u⟩(written⟨g⟩beforefront vowels).

⟨gj⟩is used inAlbanianfor thevoiced palatal plosive/ɟ/,though forGhegspeakers it represents/dʒ/.In theArbëreshdialect, it represents thevoiced velar plosive/ɡʲ/.InNorwegianandSwedish⟨gj⟩represents/j/in words likegjorde('did'). InFaroese,it represents/dʒ/.It is also used in theRomanization of Macedonianas a Latin equivalent ofCyrillic⟨Ѓ⟩.Also, it's used inFriulianto represent/ɟ/(whilst/dʒ/is one of the pronunciations of the letter ⟨z⟩). It can be found in some local orthographies ofLombardto represent/dʒ/derived from Latin ⟨gl⟩. Before the letterĐwas introduced intoGaj's Latin alphabetin 1878, the digraph ⟨gj⟩ had been used instead; and it remained in use till the beginning of the 20th century.

⟨gk⟩is used inSandaweand the romanization ofThaifor/k/;inLimburgishit represents/ɡ/.Modern Greek uses the equivalent digraphγκfor/g/,asγis used for/ɣ/~/ʝ/.

⟨gl⟩is used inItalianand some African languages for/ʎ/.

⟨gm⟩is used inEnglishfor/m/in a few words of Greek origin, such asphlegmandparadigm.Between vowels, it simply represents/ɡm/,as inparadigmatic.

⟨gn⟩is used inLatin,where it represented/ŋn/in the classical period. Latinvelar-coronalsequences like this (and also⟨cl cr ct gd gl gr x⟩) underwent apalatalmutation to varying degrees in mostItalo-WesternRomance languages.For most languages that preserve the⟨gn⟩spelling (such asItalianandFrench), it represents apalatal nasal/ɲ/(or more precisely/ɲː/in Italian), and is similarly used inRomanizationschemes such asWugniufor/ȵ/.This was not the case inDalmatianand theEastern Romance languageswhere a different mutation changed the velar component to alabial consonantas well as the spelling to⟨mn⟩.In Portuguese,⟨gn⟩represents/n/,as if there was no⟨g⟩,e.g.assignatura,signal,impregnadoandplurissignificação.It is used inScottish Gaelicfor/kr/,and nasalises the following vowel, as ingnè/krʲɛ̃ː/.

InEnglish,⟨gn⟩represents/n/initially (see/gn/ reduction) and finally (i.e.gnome, gnu, benign, sign). When it appears between two syllables, it represents/ɡn/(e.g.signal). InNorwegianandSwedish,⟨gn⟩represents/ŋn/in monosyllabic words likeagn,and between two syllables,tegne.Initially, it represents/ɡn/,e.g. Swedishgnista/ˈɡnɪsta/.

⟨gñ⟩was used in several Spanish-derived orthographies of the Pacific for/ŋ/.It is one of several variants of the digraph⟨ñg⟩,and is preserved in the name of the town ofSagñay,Philippines.

⟨go⟩is used inPiedmontesefor/ɡw/(like the “gu” inGuatemala).

⟨gq⟩is used in languages, such asXhosaandZulu,for the click/ᶢǃ/.In theTaa language,it represents/ɢ/.

⟨gr⟩is used inXhosafor/ɣ̈/.

⟨gu⟩is used inEnglish,Spanish,French,PortugueseandCatalanfor/ɡ/before front vowels⟨i e⟩(⟨i e y⟩in English and French) where a "soft g" pronunciation (English/dʒ/;Spanish/x/;French, Portuguese and Catalan/ʒ/) would otherwise occur. In English, it can also be used to represent/ɡw/.In theOsseteLatin alphabet, it is used for/ɡʷ/.

⟨gü⟩is used inSpanish,PortugueseandCatalanfor/ɡw/before front vowels⟨i e⟩where the digraph⟨gu⟩would otherwise represent/ɡ/.

⟨gv⟩is used for/kʷ/inStandard Zhuangand inBouyei.In theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesit is used for the labialized fricative/ɣʷ/.

⟨gw⟩is used in various languages for/ɡʷ/,and inDene Sulineit represents/kʷ/.

⟨ǥw⟩,capital⟨Ǥw⟩(or⟨G̱w⟩), is used inTlingitfor/qʷ/(in Alaska); in Canada, this sound is represented by⟨ghw⟩.

⟨gx⟩is used in languages, such asXhosaandZulu,for the click/ᶢǁ/.InEsperanto,it isan unofficial surrogateof⟨ĝ⟩,which represents/dʒ/.

⟨gy⟩is used inHungarianfor avoiced palatal plosive/ɟ/.In Hungarian, the letter's name isgyé.It is considered a single letter, andacronymskeep the digraph intact. The letter appears frequently in Hungarian words, such as the word for "Hungarian" itself:magyar.In the old orthography ofBouyei,it was used for/tɕ/.

⟨gǃ⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor thevoiced alveolar click/ᶢǃ/.

⟨gǀ⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor thevoiced dental click/ᶢǀ/.

⟨gǁ⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor thevoiced lateral click/ᶢǁ/.

⟨gǂ⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor thevoiced palatal click/ᶢǂ/.

H

⟨hh⟩is used inXhosato write themurmured glottal fricative/ɦ̤/,though this is often written⟨h⟩.In theIraqw language,⟨hh⟩is thevoiceless epiglottal fricative/ʜ/,and inChipewyanit is a velar/uvular/χ/.InEsperanto orthography,it isan official surrogateof⟨ĥ⟩,which represents/x/.

⟨hj⟩is used in theItalian dialect of Albanianfor/xʲ/.InFaroese,it represents either/tʃ/or/j/,and in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, it represents/j/.InIcelandicit is used to denote/ç/.

⟨hl⟩is used for/ɬ/or/l̥/in various alphabets, such as theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong(/ɬ/) andIcelandic(/l̥/). See alsoreduction of Old English /hl/.

⟨hm⟩is used in theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,where it represents the sound/m̥/.

⟨hn⟩is used in theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,where it represents the sound/n̥/.It is also used inIcelandicto denote the same phoneme. See alsoreduction of Old English /hn/.

⟨hr⟩is used for/ɣ/inBouyei.InIcelandicit is used for/r̥/.See alsoreduction of Old English /hr/.

⟨hs⟩is used in theWade-Gilestranscription ofMandarin Chinesefor the sound/ɕ/,equivalent toPinyin⟨x⟩.

⟨hu⟩is used primarily in theClassical Nahuatllanguage, in which it represents the/w/sound before a vowel; for example,Wikipediain Nahuatl is writtenHuiquipedia.After a vowel,⟨uh⟩is used. In theOsseteLatin alphabet,⟨hu⟩was used for/ʁʷ/,similar to Frenchroi.The sequence⟨hu⟩is also found in Spanish words such ashuevoorhueso;however, in Spanish this is not a digraph but a simple sequence of silent⟨h⟩and the vowel⟨u⟩.

⟨hv⟩is usedFaroeseandIcelandicfor/kv/(often/kf/), generally inwh-words,but also in other words, such as Faroesehvonn.In theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesit is used for the supposed fricative/ɣ͜β/.

⟨hw⟩is used in modern editions ofOld Englishfor/hw/,originally spelled⟨huu⟩or⟨hƿ⟩(the latter with thewynnletter). In its descendants in modern English, it is now spelled⟨wh⟩(see there for more details). It is used in some orthographies ofCornishfor/ʍ/.

⟨hx⟩is used inPinyinfor/h/in languages such asYi(⟨h⟩alone represents the fricative/x/), and inNambikwarait is aglottalized/hʔ/.InEsperanto orthography,it isan unofficial surrogateof⟨ĥ⟩,which represents/x/.

⟨hy⟩is used inHepburn romanizationof theJapanese languageto transcribe the sound/ç/,which is the syllablehibefore ay-vowel, such ashya,hyu,andhyo,which appear in Chinese loanwords. Was also used in Portuguese until 1947. It appeared in words like: Hydroginástica and Hypóthese.

I

⟨i′⟩is used inTaato represent theglottalizedorcreakyvowel/ḭ/.

⟨ia⟩is used inIrishandScottish Gaelicfor the diphthong/iə/.

⟨ie⟩is used inEnglish,where it usually represents the/aɪ/sound as inpriesandalliedor the/iː/sound as inpriestandrallied.Followed by an⟨r⟩,these vowels follow the standard changes to/aɪə/and/ɪə/,as inbrierandbier.Unique pronunciations are/ɪ/insieve,/ɛ/infriend,and/eɪ/inlingerie.Unstressed it can represent/jə/,as inspanielandconscience,or/ɪ/or/ə/as inmischiefandhurriedly.It also can represent many vowel combinations, including/aɪə/indietandclient,/aɪɛ/indiesterandquiescent,/iːə/inalienandskier,/iːɛ/inorientalandhygienic,and/iː.iː/in Britishmedieval.

InDutchandAfrikaans,⟨ie⟩represents thetensevowel/i/.InGerman,it may represent the lengthened vowel/iː/as inLiebe(love) as well as the vowel combination/iə/as inBelgien(Belgium). InLatvianandLithuanian,⟨ie⟩is considered two letters for all purposes and represents/iæ̯/,commonly (although less precisely) transcribed as/i̯e/.InMaltese,⟨ie⟩is a distinct letter and represents a longclose front unrounded vowel,/iː/or/iɛ/.InPinyinit is used to write the vowel/e/in languages such asYi,where⟨e⟩stands for/ɛ/.InOld English⟨ie⟩was one of the common diphthongs, theumlautedversion of⟨ea⟩and⟨eo⟩.Its value is not entirely clear, and in Middle English it had become/e/.

⟨îe⟩is used inAfrikaansfor/əːə/.

⟨ig⟩is used inCatalanfor/t͡ʃ/(ch as in cheese) in thecoda.

⟨ih⟩,is used inTaato represent the breathy ormurmuredvowel/i̤/.It is also used inTongyong PinyinandWade-Gilestranscription for the fricative vowels of Mandarin Chinese, which are spelled⟨i⟩inHanyu Pinyin.

⟨ii⟩is used in many languages such as Portuguese (e.g. Semiinsinuante, Sacerdócii) and Finnish (e.g. Riikka, Niinistö, Siitala, Riikkeli), Italian (e.g. Riina), Estonian (e.g. Riik), Scots (e.g. Auld Nii, Iisay), with phonemic long vowels for/iː/.

⟨ií⟩is used inPortuguesefor/iyi/.In Portuguese, when forming the superlative absolute synthetic form of adjectives that end in "-io," we often end up with "ii" in the spelling. This happens because the "-íssimo(a)" suffix is added directly to the adjective(e.g. feio(a) -> feiíssimo(a), sério(a) -> seriíssimo(a)).

⟨ij⟩is used inDutchfor/ɛi/.See article.

⟨il⟩is used inFrenchfor/j/,historically/ʎ/,as inail/aj/(approximatelyeyeinEnglish) "garlic". Can also be written as⟨ille⟩as invieille/vjɛj/.

⟨im⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ĩ/.

⟨ím⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ĩ/before a consonant.

⟨ĩm⟩is used inPortuguesefor the diphthong/ĩə/.

⟨in⟩is used in many languages to write anasal vowel.InPortuguesebefore a consonant, and in manyWest Africanlanguages, it is/ĩ/,while in French it is/ɛ̃/.

⟨ín⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ĩ/before a consonant.

⟨în⟩is used inFrenchto write a vowel sound/ɛ̃/that was once followed by a historical⟨s⟩,as invous vîntes/vuvɛ̃t/"you came".

⟨iŋ⟩is used inLakhotafor the nasal vowel/ĩ/.

⟨io⟩is used inIrishfor/ɪ/,/ʊ/,and/iː/between a slender and a broad consonant. InScottish Gaelicit is used for/i/and sometimes/(j)ũ(ː)/between a slender and a broad consonant.

⟨ío⟩is used inIrishfor/iː/between a slender and a broad consonant.

⟨ìo⟩is used inScottish Gaelicfor/iː/and/iə/between a slender and a broad consonant.

⟨iq⟩is used inTaato represent thepharyngealizedvowel/iˤ/.

⟨iu⟩is used inIrishfor/ʊ/between a slender and a broad consonant. In Scottish Gaelic, it is used for/(j)u/between a slender and a broad consonant. In Mandarinpinyin,it is/i̯ou̯/after a consonant. (In initial position, this is spelled⟨you⟩).

⟨iú⟩is used inIrishfor/uː/between a slender and a broad consonant.

⟨iù⟩is used inScottish Gaelicfor/(j)uː/between a slender and a broad consonant.

⟨iw⟩is used inWelshandCornishfor the diphthong/iʊ/or/ɪʊ/.

⟨ix⟩is used inCatalanfor/ʃ/(Eastern Catalan) or/jʃ/(Western Catalan) after a vowel.

⟨i_e⟩(asplit digraph) indicates an English'long i',historically/iː/but now most commonly realised as/aɪ/.

J

⟨jh⟩is used inWalloonto write a consonant that is variously/h/,/ʒ/or/ç/,depending on the dialect. InTongyong pinyin,it represents/tʂ/,written⟨zh⟩in standard pinyin.⟨jh⟩is also the standard transliteration for theDevanāgarīletterझ/dʒʱ/. InEsperanto,it isan official surrogateof⟨ĵ⟩,which represents/ʒ/.InLatin American Spanish,it is sometimes used in first names (likeJhonand Jhordan) to represent/ɟʝ/and distinguish it from the typical sound of⟨j⟩in Spanish,/x/.

⟨jj⟩is used inPinyinfor/dʑ/in languages such asYi.In romanizedKorean,it represents the fortis sound/tɕ͈/.InHadzait is ejective/tʃʼ/.

⟨jö⟩is used as a letter of theSerialphabet, where it represents alabializedvelar fricative,/xʷ/.It is placed betweenJandLinalphabetical order.

⟨jr⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor/ɖʐ/.

⟨jx⟩is used inEsperantoasan unofficial surrogateof⟨ĵ⟩,which represents/ʒ/.

K

⟨kg⟩is used for/kχ/in southern African languages such asSetswanaandSotho.For instance, theKalahariis spelledKgalagadi/kχalaχadi/in Setswana.

⟨kh⟩,in transcriptions ofIndo-AryanandDravidian languages,represents theaspiratedvoiceless velar plosive(/kʰ/). For most other languages,it represents thevoiceless velar fricative/x/,for example in transcriptions of the letterḫāʾ(خ) in standard Arabic, standard Persian, and Urdu, CyrillicХ,х(kha), Spanish⟨j⟩,as well as the Hebrew letterkaf(כ‎) in instances when it islenited.When used for transcription of the letterḥet(ח‎) inSephardic Hebrew,it represents thevoiceless pharyngeal fricative/ħ/.In CanadianTlingitit represents/qʰ/,which in Alaska is writtenk.In theOsseteLatin alphabet, it was used for/kʼ/.

⟨kj⟩is usedSwedishandNorwegianfor/ɕ/or/ç/.See also⟨tj⟩.InFaroese,it represents/tʃ/.In theromanization of Macedonian,it represents/c/.

⟨kk⟩is used in romanizedKoreanfor thefortissound/k͈/,in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for ejective/kʼ/,and inCypriot Arabicfor/kʰː/.

⟨kl⟩is used inZuluto write a sound variously realized as/kʟ̥ʼ/or/kxʼ/.

⟨km⟩is used inYélî Dnyedoubly articulatedandnasally released/k͡pŋ͡m/.

⟨kn⟩is used in English to write the word-initial sound/n/(formerly pronounced /kn/) in some words of Germanic origin, such askneeandknife.It is used inYélî Dnyefornasally released/kŋ/.

⟨kp⟩is used as a letter in someAfrican languages,where it represents avoiceless labial-velar plosive/k͡p/.

⟨kr⟩is used inXhosafor/kxʼ/.

⟨ks⟩is used inCornishfor either/ks/or/ɡz/.

⟨ku⟩is used inPurépechafor/kʷ/.It also had that value in theOsseteLatin alphabet.

⟨kv⟩is used for/k^wh/in some dialects ofZhuang.

⟨kw⟩is used in various languages for thelabialized velar consonant/kʷ/,and inDene Suline(Chipewyan) for/k^wh/.Used informally in English forphonemic spellingofqu,as inkwik(fromquick), ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*/ɡʷ/.

⟨ḵw⟩is used in AlaskanTlingitfor/q^wh/,which in Canada is written⟨khw⟩.

⟨kx⟩in used inNambikwarafor aglottalized/kʔ/,and inJuǀʼhoanfor theejective/kxʼ/.

⟨ky⟩is used inTibetan Pinyinfor/tʃʰ/.It is commonly used inBurmese romanization systemesto represent/tʃ/(⟨ch⟩ is already used to represent aspirated/tʃʰ/).

L

⟨lh⟩,inOccitan,Gallo,andPortuguese,represents apalatal lateral approximant/ʎ/.In manyIndigenous languages of the Americasit represents avoiceless alveolar lateral fricative/ɬ/.In thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languagesit represents a dental lateral,/l̪/.In theGwoyeu Romatzyhromanization ofMandarin Chinese,initial⟨lh⟩indicates an even tone on a syllable beginning in/l/,which is otherwise spelled⟨l⟩.InMiddle Welshit was sometimes used to represent the sound/ɬ/as well as⟨ll⟩,inmodern Welshit has been replaced by⟨ll⟩.InTibetan,it represents thevoiceless alveolar lateral approximant/ɬ/,as inLhasa.

⟨lj⟩is a letter in someSlavic languages,such as the Latin orthographies ofSerbo-Croatian,where it represents apalatal lateral approximant/ʎ/.For example, the wordljiljanis pronounced/ʎiʎan/.Ljudevit Gajfirst used the digraph⟨lj⟩in 1830; he devised it by analogy with aCyrillicdigraph, which developed into theligature⟨љ⟩.InSwedish,it represents/j/in initial position e.g.ljus.

The sound/ʎ/is written⟨gl⟩in Italian, in Castilian Spanish and Catalan as⟨ll⟩,in Portuguese as⟨lh⟩,in some Hungarian dialects as⟨lly⟩,and inLatvianas⟨ļ⟩.InCzechandSlovak,it is often transcribed as⟨ľ⟩;it is used more frequently in the latter language. While there are dedicated Unicode codepoints, U+01C7 (LJ), U+01C8 (Lj) and U+01C9 (lj), these are included for backwards compatibility (with legacy encodings for Serbo-Croatian which kept a one-to-one correspondence with Cyrillic Љљ) and modern texts use a sequence of Basic Latin characters.

⟨ll⟩and⟨l·l⟩are used in several languages. See article.

⟨ḷḷ⟩is used inAsturianfor a sound that was historically/ʎ/but which is now an affricate,[t͡s],[t͡ʃ],[d͡ʒ].

⟨lr⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor/ɭ /.

⟨lv⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulated/l͜β/.

⟨lw⟩is used for/lʷ/inArrernte.

⟨lx⟩in used inNambikwarafor aglottalized/ˀl/.

⟨ly⟩is used inHungarian.See article.

M

⟨mb⟩,in manyAfricanlanguages,represents/mb/or/ᵐb/.In English, it represents/m/when final, as inlamb(seereduction of /mb/). InStandard Zhuangand inBouyei,⟨mb⟩is used for/ɓ/.⟨mb⟩(capital⟨mB⟩) is used word initially inIrish,as theeclipsisof⟨b⟩,to represent/mˠ/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) and/mʲ/(beside⟨e, i⟩); e.g.ár mbád/aːɾˠmˠaːd̪ˠ/"our boat" (cf./bˠaːd̪ˠ/"boat" ),i mBaile Átha Cliath"in Dublin".

⟨md⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulatedandprenasalized/n͡mt͡p/.

⟨mf⟩,in manyAfricanlanguages,represents/mf/or/ᵐf/.

⟨mg⟩is used inPinyinfor/ŋɡ/in languages such asYi,where the more common digraph⟨ng⟩is restricted to/ŋ/.It is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulatedandprenasalized/ŋ͡mk͡p/.

⟨mh⟩is used inIrish,as thelenitionof⟨m⟩,to represent/w/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) and/vʲ/(beside⟨e, i⟩), e.g.mo mháthair/mˠəˈwaːhəɾʲ/"my mother" (cf.máthair/ˈmˠaːhəɾʲ/'mother'). InScottish Gaelic,it represents/v/,or in a few contexts as/w/~/u/between a broad vowel and a broad consonant or between two broad vowels, as inreamhar/rˠɛ̃ũ.əɾ/.. InWelshit stands for thenasal mutationof⟨p⟩and represents thevoiceless/m̥/;for examplefy mhen/vəm̥ɛn/'my head' (cf.pen/pɛn/'head'). In both languages it is considered a sequence of the two letters⟨m⟩and⟨h⟩for purposes of alphabetization. InShona,Juǀʼhoanand several other languages, it is used for amurmured/m̤/.In theGwoyeu Romatzyhromanization ofMandarin Chinese,initial⟨mh⟩- indicates an even tone on a syllable beginning in/m/,which is otherwise spelled⟨m⟩-. In several languages, such asGogo,it's a voiceless/m̥/.

⟨ml⟩is used in theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,where it represents the sound/mˡ/.

⟨mm⟩is used in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for glottalized/ˀm/.It is used inCornishfor an optionallypre-occluded/m/;that is, it is pronounced either/m/or/mː/(in any position);/ᵇm/(before a consonant or finally); or/bm/(before a vowel); examples aremamm('mother') orhemma('this').

⟨mn⟩is used in English to write the word-initial sound/n/in a few words of Greek origin, such asmnemonic.When final, it represents/m/,as indamnor/im/as inhymn,and between vowels it represents/m/as indamning,or/mn/as indamnation(see/mn/-reduction). InFrenchit represents/n/,as inautomneandcondamner.

⟨mp⟩,in manyAfricanlanguages,represents/mp/or/ᵐp/.Modern Greek uses the equivalent digraphμπfor/b/,asβis used for/v/.InMpumpongofCameroon,⟨mp⟩is a plain/p/.

⟨mq⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor apharyngealizedor perhapscreaky/m̰/.

⟨mt⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulatedandprenasalized/n̪͡mt̪͡p/.

⟨mv⟩,in manyAfricanlanguages,represents/mv/or/ᵐv/.

⟨mw⟩is used for/mʷ/inArrernte.

⟨mx⟩is used inNambikwarafor aglottalized/ˀm/.

N

⟨nʼ⟩is used inXhosaandShonafor/ŋ/.Since⟨ʼ⟩is not a letter in either language,⟨nʼ⟩is not technically a digraph.

⟨nb⟩is used inPinyinfor/mb/in languages such asYi.It is also used inFulain Guinea for/ᵐb/(written as⟨mb⟩in other countries).

⟨nc⟩is used in various alphabets. In theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,it represents the sound/ɲɟ/.InTharakait is/ntʃ/.InXhosaandZuluit represents the click/ᵑǀ/.

⟨nd⟩(capital⟨Nd⟩) is used in manyAfricanlanguagesto represent/nd/or/ⁿd/.InStandard ZhuangandBouyei,itrepresents/ɗ/.⟨nd⟩(capital⟨nD⟩) is used word initially inIrish,as theeclipsisof⟨d⟩,to represent/n̪ˠ/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) and/n̠ʲ/(beside⟨e, i⟩), e.g.ár ndoras/aːɾˠˈn̪ˠɔɾˠəsˠ/"our door" (cf.doras/ˈd̪ˠɔɾˠəsˠ/"door" ),i nDoire"inDerry".

⟨nf⟩,equivalent to⟨mf⟩for/mf/or/ᵐf/.InRangi⟨nf⟩is/ᵐf/while⟨mf⟩is/m.f/.

⟨ng⟩,inSino-Tibetan languages,as inEnglishand several other European and derived orthographies (for exampleVietnamese),generally represents thevelar nasal/ŋ/.It is considered a single letter in manyAustronesian languages(Māori,Tagalog,Tongan,Gilbertese,Tuvaluan,Indonesian,Chamorro),Welsh,andRheinische Dokumenta,forvelar nasal/ŋ/;and in someAfrican languages(Lingala,Bambara,Wolof) forprenasalized/ɡ/(/ⁿɡ/).

For the development of the pronunciation of this digraph in English, seeNG-coalescenceandG-dropping.

Finnishuses⟨ng⟩to represent the phonemically longvelar nasal/ŋː/in contrast to⟨nk⟩/ŋk/,which is its "strong" form underconsonant gradation,a type oflenition.Weakening/k/produces anarchiphonemic"velar fricative", which, as a velar fricative does not exist in Standard Finnish, is assimilated to the preceding/ŋ/,producing/ŋː/.(No/ɡ/is involved at any point, despite the spelling⟨ng⟩). The digraph⟨ng⟩is not an independent letter, but it is an exception to thephonemic principle,one of the few in standard Finnish.

⟨ng⟩(capital⟨nG⟩) is used word-initially inIrish,as theeclipsisof⟨g⟩,to represent/ŋ/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) or/ɲ/(beside⟨e, i⟩), e.g.ár ngalar/aːɾˠˈŋalˠəɾˠ/"our illness" (cf./ˈɡalˠəɾˠ/),i nGaillimh"in Galway".

In Tagalog and otherPhilippine languages,⟨ng⟩represented the prenasalized sequence/ŋɡ/during the Spanish era. The velar nasal,/ŋ/,was written in a variety of ways, namely "n͠g", "ñg", "gñ" (as inSagñay), and—after a vowel—at times "g̃". During the standardization of Tagalog in the early part of the 20th century,⟨ng⟩became used for the velar nasal/ŋ/,while prenasalized/ŋɡ/came to be written⟨ngg⟩.Furthermore,⟨ng⟩is also used for a commongenitiveparticle pronounced/naŋ/,to differentiate it from an adverbial particlenang.

InUzbek,it is considered as a separate letter, being the last (twenty-ninth) letter of theUzbek alphabet.It is followed by theapostrophe(tutuq belgisi).

⟨ńg⟩is used inCentral Alaskan Yup'ikto write the voiceless nasal sound/ŋ̊/.

⟨ñg⟩,or more precisely⟨n͠g⟩,was a digraph in several Spanish-derived orthographies of the Pacific, such asTagalogandChamorro,where it represented the sound/ŋ/,as opposed to⟨ng⟩,which originally represented/ŋɡ/.An example is Chamorroagan͠gñáijon(modernagangñaihon) "to declare". Besides⟨ñg⟩,variants of⟨n͠g⟩include⟨gñ⟩(as inSagñay),⟨ng̃⟩,and a⟨g̃⟩,that is preceded by a vowel (but not a consonant). It has since been replaced by the trigraph⟨ngg⟩or⟨ng⟩(see above).

⟨ngʼ⟩is used for/ŋ/in Swahili and languages with Swahili-based orthographies. Since⟨ʼ⟩is not a letter in Swahili,⟨ngʼ⟩is technically a digraph, not atrigraph.

⟨nh⟩is used in several languages. See article.

⟨ni⟩inPolish,it usually representsɲwhenever it precedes a vowel, andɲiwhenever it precedes a consonant (or in the end of the word), and is considered a graphic variant ofńappearing in other situations. (In some cases it may represent alsoɲjbefore a vowel; for a better description, when, seethe relevant section in the article on Polish orthography).

⟨nj⟩is a letter in the Latin orthographies ofAlbanian,SlovenianandSerbo-Croatian.Ljudevit Gaj,a Croat, first used this digraph in 1830. In all of these languages, it represents thepalatal nasal/ɲ/.For example, the Croatian and Serbian wordkonj"horse" is pronounced/koɲ/.The digraph was created in the 19th century by analogy with a digraph ofCyrillic,which developed into theligature⟨њ⟩.While there are dedicated Unicode codepoints, U+01CA (NJ), U+01CB (Nj) and U+01CC (nj), these are included for backwards compatibility (with legacy encodings for Serbo-Croatian which kept a one-to-one correspondence with Cyrillic Њњ) and modern texts use a sequence of Basic Latin characters.

InFaroese,it generally represents/ɲ/,although in some words it represent/nj/,like inbanjo.It is also used in some languages ofAfricaandOceaniawhere it represents aprenazalizedvoiced postalveolar affricateorfricative,/ⁿdʒ/or/ⁿʒ/.InMalagasy,it represents/ⁿdz/.

Other letters and digraphs of theLatin alphabetused for spelling this sound are⟨ń⟩(inPolish),⟨ň⟩(inCzechandSlovakian),⟨ñ⟩(inSpanish),⟨nh⟩(inPortugueseandOccitan),⟨gn⟩(inItalianandFrench), and⟨ny⟩(inHungarian,among others).

⟨nk⟩is used in manyBantu languageslikeLingala,Tshiluba,andKikongo,for/ŋk/or/ᵑk/.In thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languagessuch asWarlpiri,Arrernte,andPitjantjatjara,it distinguishes a prenasalized velar stop,/ŋ͡k~ŋ͡ɡ/,from the nasal/ŋ/.

⟨nm⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulated/n͡m/.

⟨ńm⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulated/n̪͡m/.

⟨nn⟩is used inIrishto represent thefortis nasals/n̪ˠ/(beside⟨a, o, u⟩) and/n̠ʲ/(beside⟨e, i⟩). It is used inScottish Gaelicto represent/n̪ˠ/beside⟨a, o, u⟩and/ɲ/beside⟨e, i⟩.InSpanishhistorical⟨nn⟩has contracted to theligature⟨ñ⟩and represents the sound/ɲ/.In theGwoyeu Romatzyhromanization ofMandarin Chinese,final-nnindicates a falling tone on a syllable ending in/n/,which is otherwise spelled-n.It is used in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for glottalized/ˀn/.InPiedmontese,it is/ŋn/in the middle of a word, and/n/at the end. InCornish,it is used for an optionallypre-occluded/n/;that is, it is pronounced either/n/or/nː/(in any position);/ᵈn/(before a consonant or finally); or/dn/(before a vowel); examples arepenn('head') orpennow('heads').

⟨np⟩is used in theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,where it represents the sound/mb/.

⟨nq⟩is used in various alphabets. In theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,it represents the sound/ɴɢ/.InXhosaandZuluit represents the click/ᵑǃ/.In theGwoyeu Romatzyhromanization ofMandarin Chinese,final-nqindicates a falling tone on a syllable ending in/ŋ/,which is otherwise spelled-ng.

⟨nr⟩is used in theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,where it represents the sound/ɳɖ/.In theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesit is/ɳ /.

⟨ns⟩,in manyAfricanlanguages,represents/ns/or/ⁿs/.

⟨nt⟩is a letter present in manyAfricanlanguageswhere it represents/nt/or/ⁿt/.Modern Greek uses the equivalent digraphντfor/d/,asδis used for/ð/.

⟨nv⟩,equivalent to⟨mv⟩for/mv/or/ᵐv/.

⟨nw⟩is used inIgbofor/ŋʷ/,and inArrerntefor/nʷ/.

⟨nx⟩is used for the click/ᵑǁ/inXhosaandZulu,and inNambikwarafor aglottalized/ˀn/.

⟨ny⟩is used in several languages for/ɲ/.See article.

⟨nz⟩,in manyAfricanlanguages,represents/nz/~/ⁿz/,/ndz/~/ⁿdz/,/nʒ/~/ⁿʒ/,or/ndʒ/~/ⁿdʒ/.

⟨nǃ⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor thealveolar nasal click/ᵑǃ/.

⟨nǀ⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor thedental nasal click/ᵑǀ/.

⟨nǁ⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor thelateral nasal click/ᵑǁ/.

⟨nǂ⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor thepalatal nasal click/ᵑǂ/.

⟨n-⟩is used for medial/ŋ/inPiedmontese.

O

⟨o′⟩is used for/o/and/ø/inUzbek,with the preferred typographical form being⟨oʻ⟩(Cyrillic⟨ў⟩). Technically it is not a digraph in Uzbek, since⟨ʻ⟩is not a letter of the Uzbek alphabet, but rather a typographic convention for a diacritic. In handwriting the letter is written as⟨õ⟩.

It is also used inTaa,for theglottalizedorcreakyvowel/o̰/.

⟨oa⟩is used inEnglish,where it commonly represents the/oʊ/sound as inroad,coal,boast,coaxing,etc. InMiddle English,where the digraph originated, it represented/ɔː/,a pronunciation retained in the wordbroadand derivatives, and when the digraph is followed by an "r", as insoarandbezoar.The letters also represent two vowels, as inkoala/oʊ.ɑː/,boas/oʊ.ə/,coaxial/oʊ.æ/,oasis/oʊ.eɪ/,anddoable/uː.ə/.InMalagasy,it is occasionally used for/o/.

⟨oe⟩is found in manylanguages.InEnglish,it represents the/oʊ/sound as inhoeand sometimes the/uː/sound as inshoe.It may also represent the/ɛ/sound inAmEpronunciation ofOedipus,(o)esophagus(also inBrE), and(o)estrogen,/eɪ/inboehmite(AmE) and surnames likeBoehnerandGroening(as if spelledBaynerandGray/Greyningrespectively), and/iː/infoetus(BrE andCoE) and some speakers' pronunciation ofOedipusandoestrogen.⟨oe⟩represents/u/inAfrikaansandDutch,e.g.doen;it also represented the same phoneme in theIndonesian languagebefore the1972 spelling reform.Ligaturedto⟨œ⟩inFrench,it stands for the vowels/œ/(as inœil/œj/) and/e/(as inœsophage/ezɔfaʒ~øzɔfaʒ/). It is an alternative way to write⟨ö⟩or⟨ø⟩in German or Scandinavian languages when this character is unavailable. In romanization ofWu Chineseand inRoyal Thai General System of Transcription,it represents/ɤ/. InCantonese Pinyinit represents the vowel/ɵ~œː/,while in theJyutpingromanisation ofCantoneseit represents/œː/,and inZhuangit is used for/o/(⟨o⟩is used for/oː/). InPiedmontese,it is/wɛ/.In theKernewek Kemmynorthography ofCornish,it is used for a phoneme which is[oː]long,[oˑ]mid-length, and[ɤ]short.

⟨oê⟩is used inFrenchto write the vowel sound/wa/in a few words before what had historically been an⟨s⟩,mostly in words derived frompoêle/pwal/"stove". The diacriticless variant,⟨oe⟩,rarely represents this sound except in words related tomoelle/mwal/(rarely speltmoëlle).

⟨ôe⟩is used inAfrikaansfor the vowel/ɔː/.

⟨õe⟩is used inPortuguesefor/õĩ̯/.It is used in plural forms of some words ended in⟨ão⟩,such asanão–anõesandcampeão–campeões.

⟨oh⟩is used inTaa,for the breathy ormurmuredvowel/o̤/.

⟨oi⟩is used in variouslanguages.InEnglish,it represents the/ɔɪ̯/sound as incoinandjoin.InFrench,it represents/wa/,which was historically – and still is in some cases – written⟨oy⟩.InIrishit is used for/ɛ/,/ɔ/,/ɪ/,/əi̯/,/iː/,/oː/between a broad and a slender consonant. InScottish Gaelicit is used for/ɔ/,/ɤ/,except before⟨ll, m, nn⟩word-finally or pre-consonant, where it is/əi/.InPiedmontese,it is/ui̯/.

⟨oí⟩is used inIrishfor/iː/between a broad and a slender consonant.

⟨oî⟩is used inFrenchto write/wa/before what had historically been an⟨s⟩,as inboîtierorcloître.

⟨ói⟩is used inIrishfor/oː/between a broad and a slender consonant. It is also used inPortuguese.

⟨òi⟩is used inPiedmontesefor/oi̯/.It is used inScottish Gaelicfor/oː/or/ɔː/

⟨om⟩is used inPortuguesefor/õ/,and in French to write/ɔ̃/.

⟨ôm⟩is used inBrazilian Portuguesefor/õ/before a consonant.

⟨on⟩is used inPortuguesefor/õ/before a consonant, and in French to write/ɔ̃/.

⟨ôn⟩is used inPortuguesefor/õ/before a consonant.

⟨ön⟩is used inTibetan Pinyinfor/ø̃/.It is alternately writtenoin.

⟨oo⟩is used in manylanguages.InEnglish,it generally represents sounds which historically descend from theMiddle English pronunciation/oː/.After theGreat Vowel Shift,this came to typically represent/uː/as in "moon "and" food ". Subsequently, in a handful of common words like" good "and" flood "the vowel was shortened to⟨/u/⟩,and after theMiddle EnglishFOOT–STRUTsplit,these became/ʊ/and/ʌ/respectively. Like inMiddle English,the digraph's pronunciation is/oː/in most other languages. InGermanandDutch,the digraph represents/oː/.InCornish,it represents either/oː/or/uː/.

⟨oq⟩Is used inTaa,for thepharyngealizedvowel/oˤ/.

⟨or⟩,inDaighi tongiong pingim,representsmid central vowel/ə/orclose-mid back rounded vowel/o/inTaiwanese Hokkien.

⟨ou⟩is used inEnglishfor thediphthong/aʊ/,as inout/aʊt/.This spelling is generally used before consonants, with⟨ow⟩being used instead before vowels and at the ends of words. Occasionally⟨ou⟩may also represent other vowels –/ʌ/as introuble,/oʊ/as insoul,/ʊ/as inwould,/uː/as ingroup,or/juː/as in the alternate American pronunciation ofcoupon.The⟨ou⟩inoutoriginally represented/uː/,as in French, and its pronunciation has mostly changed as part of theGreat Vowel Shift.However, the/uː/sound was kept before⟨p⟩.

InDutch⟨ou⟩represents/ʌu/in the Netherlands or/oʊ/in Flanders. InCornish,it represents[uː],[u],or[ʊ].InFrench,it represents thevowel/u/,as invous/vu/"you", or theapproximant consonant/w/,as inoui/wi/"yes".

InPortuguesethis digraph stands for theclose-mid back rounded vowel/o/or for the fallingdiphthong/ou/,according to dialect.

⟨ou⟩is used InHepburn romanizationof theJapanese languageto transcribe the sound/oː/.

⟨oû⟩is used inFrenchto write the vowel sound/u/before what had historically been an⟨s⟩,as insoûl/su/"drunk" (also speltsoul).

⟨ow⟩,inEnglish,usually represents the/aʊ/sound as incoward,sundowner,andnowor the/oʊ/sound, as infroward,landowner,andknow.An exceptional pronunciation is/ɒ/inknowledgeandrowlock.There are many Englishheteronymsdistinguished only by the pronunciation of this digraph, like:bow(front of ship or weapon),bower(a dwelling or string player),lower(to frown or drop),mow(to grimace or cut),row(a dispute or line-up),shower(rain or presenter),sow(a pig or to seed),tower(a building or towboat). InCornish,this represents the diphthong/ɔʊ/or/oʊ/;before vowels, it can also represent/uː/.

⟨ôw⟩is used in theKernowek Standardorthography ofCornishto refer to a sound that can be either/ɛʊ/or/oʊ/.This distribution can also be written⟨êw⟩.

⟨oy⟩is found in manylanguages.InEnglishandFaroese,⟨oy⟩represents the diphthong/ɔɪ/.Examples in English includetoyandannoy.InCornish,it represents the diphthong/oɪ/~/ɔɪ/;in the wordsoy('egg') andmoy('much'), it can also be pronounced/uɪ/~/ʊɪ/.

⟨oŷ⟩is an obsolete digraph once used inFrench.

⟨øy⟩is used inNorwegianfor/øʏ/.

⟨o_e⟩(asplit digraph) indicates an English'long o',historically/ɔ:/but now most commonly realised as/oʊ/.

P

⟨pf⟩is used inGermanfor/pf/,e.g.Pferd"horse",Apfel"apple", andKnopf"button". In English, usually in recent loan words from German, it generally represents/f/,such as inPfizer.

⟨ph⟩in used in English and French for/f/,mostly in words derived fromGreek,but also some words derived fromVietnamese.InIrish,Scottish GaelicandWelshit represents thelenition/Aspirate mutationof⟨p⟩.It represents/f/inVietnamese,where⟨f⟩is not used.

⟨pl⟩is used in theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to write Hmong, for/pˡ/.

⟨pm⟩is used for/ᵖm/inArrernte.

⟨pn⟩is used in English for/n/initially in words of Greek origin such aspneumatic.

⟨pp⟩is used in romanizedKoreanfor the fortis sound/p͈/,and inCypriot Arabicfor/pʰː/.It was used inPortugueseuntil 1947, e.g.guardanappo,appaandmappelido.

⟨ps⟩is used in English and Portuguese for/s/initially in words of Greek origin such aspsyche(English) andPsychòtico(Portuguese). InShonait represents awhistled sibilantcluster/ps͎/.

⟨pt⟩is used in several languages for/t/in words of Greek origin, where it was/pt/,e.g. in Englishpterosaur/ˈtɛrəsɔːr/.

⟨pw⟩is used in Arrernte for/pʷ/.

⟨py⟩is used inCypriot Arabicfor/pc/.

Q

⟨qg⟩is used inNarofor the click/ǃχ/.It was used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thevoiceless alveolar click/ǃ/.

⟨qh⟩is used in various alphabets. InQuechuaand theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,it represents/qʰ/.InXhosa,it represents the click/ǃʰ/.

⟨qk⟩was used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thevoiceless alveolar click/ǃ/(equivalent to⟨qg⟩).

⟨qq⟩is used in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for ejective/qʼ/.InHadzait represents the glottalized click/ᵑǃˀ/.

⟨qu⟩is used inAragonese,Asturian,Catalan,French,Galician,Mirandese,Occitan,PortugueseandSpanishfor/k/before⟨e, i⟩,where⟨c⟩represents/θ/(Castilian Spanish,Asturian,Aragoneseand most ofGalicia) or/s/(Catalan,French,American Spanish,OccitanandPortuguese). In French,⟨qu⟩is also usually/k/before⟨a, o⟩.This dates toLatin⟨qu⟩,and ultimately theProto-Indo-Europeanlabialized velar consonant*/kʷ/;in English this sound instead became written primarily as⟨wh⟩,due toGrimm's lawchangingkʷ>xʷ(written⟨hw⟩), and Middle English spelling change switching⟨hw⟩to⟨wh⟩.In English, it represents/k/in words derived from those languages (e.g.,quiche), and/kw/in other words, including borrowings from Latin (e.g.,quantity). InGerman,it represents/kv/.In theOssetianLatin alphabet, it was used for/qʷ/.InVietnameseit is used to represent/kw/or/w/.In Cornish, it represents/kw/.

⟨qü⟩is used inPortugueseandFrenchfor/kw/before⟨e, i⟩.

⟨qv⟩is used inBouyeifor/ˀw/.

⟨qw⟩is used in some languages for/qʷ/.InMi'kmaqit represents/xʷ/.In theKernowek StandardandStandard Written Formorthographies for Revived Cornish, it represents/kw/.

⟨qy⟩is used inBouyeifor glottalized/ˀj/.

R

⟨rd⟩is used in thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languagessuch asWarlpiri,Arrernte,andPitjantjatjarafor a retroflex stop,/ʈ/.InNorwegianandSwedishit representsvoiced retroflex plosive,[ɖ].InScottish Gaelicit sometimes represents/rˠʃt̪/when broad, or/rˠʃtʲ/when slender, though this epenthetic consonant is not found in all dialects.

⟨rh⟩is used inEnglishforGreekwordstransliteratedthroughLatin.Examples include "rhapsody", "rhetoric" and "rhythm". These were pronounced in Ancient Greek with avoiceless"r" sound,/r̥/,as inOld English⟨hr⟩.The digraph may also be found within words, but always at the start of a word component, e.g., "polyrhythmic".German,French,andInterlinguause⟨rh⟩in the same way.⟨Rh⟩is also found inWelshwhere it represents avoiceless alveolar trill(r̥), that is a voiceless "r" sound. It can be found anywhere; the most common occurrence in English from Welsh is in the slightly respelled given name "Rhonda". InWade-Gilestransliteration,⟨rh⟩is used for the syllable-final rhotic ofMandarin Chinese.In theGwoyeu Romatzyhromanization ofMandarin Chinese,initial⟨rh⟩- indicates an even tone on a syllable beginning in/ʐ/,which is otherwise spelled⟨r⟩-. InPurépecha,it is aretroflex flap,/ɽ/.

⟨rl⟩is used in thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languagessuch asWarlpiri,Arrernte,andPitjantjatjara,as well inNorwegianandSwedish,for a retroflex lateral, written/ɭ/in theIPA.InGreenlandic,it represents/ɬː/as the result of an assimilation of a consonant cluster with a uvular consonant as the first component.

⟨rm⟩is used inInuktitutfor/ɴm/.

⟨rn⟩represents the retroflex nasal/ɳ/inWarlpiri,Arrernte,andPitjantjatjara(seetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languages), as well inNorwegianandSwedish.InGreenlandic,it represents/ɴ/.InInuktitut,it represents/ɴn/.

⟨rp⟩is used inGreenlandicfor/pː/as the result of an assimilation of a consonant cluster with a uvular consonant as the first component.

⟨rr⟩is used inEnglishfor⟨r⟩.It normally appears in words ofLatinorRomanceorigin, and⟨rrh⟩in words of ancientGreekorigin. It is quite a common digraph. Some words with⟨rr⟩are relatively recentloanwordsfrom other languages; examples includeburrofromSpanish.It is often used in impromptu pronunciation guides to denote either analveolar tapor analveolar trill.It is a letter in theAlbanian alphabet.

In several European languages, such asCatalan,Spanish,Portuguese,Basque orAlbanian,"rr" represents thealveolar trill/r/(or thevoiced uvular fricative/ʁ/inPortuguese) and contrasts with the single "r", which represents thealveolar tap/ɾ/(in Catalan and Spanish a single "r" also represents the alveolar trill at the beginning of words or syllables). In Italian and Finnish, "rr" is ageminated(long) consonant/rː/.InCentral Alaskan Yup'ikit is used for/χ/.InCornish,it can represent either/rː/,/ɾʰ/,or/ɹ/.InScottish Gaelic,it represents/rˠ/.

⟨rs⟩was equivalent to⟨rz⟩and stood for/r̝/(modernř) in medievalCzech.InGreenlandic,it represents/sː/as the result of an assimilation of a consonant cluster with a uvular consonant as the first component. InNorwegianandSwedish,it representsvoiceless retroflex fricative,[ʂ].

⟨rt⟩is used in Australian Aboriginal languages such asWarlpiri,Arrernte,andPitjantjatjara,as well inNorwegianandSwedish,for a retroflex stop/ʈ/.InScottish Gaelicit often represents/rˠʃt̪/when broad, or/rˠʃtʲ/when slender, though this epenthetic consonant is not found in all dialects.

⟨rw⟩is used for/ɻʷ/inArrernte.

⟨rz⟩is used inPolishandKashubianfor avoiced retroflex fricative/ʐ/,similar to English⟨zh⟩as inZhivago.Examples from Polish aremarzec/ˈma.ʐɛt͡s/"March" andrzeka/ˈʐɛ.ka/"river".⟨rz⟩represents the same sound as⟨ż⟩,but they have a different origin.⟨rz⟩used to be pronounced the same way as Czech⟨ř⟩(/r̝/) in older Polish, but the soundsmerged,and theorthographystill follows etymology. When preceded by avoiceless consonant(⟨ch, k, p, t⟩) orend of a word,⟨rz⟩devoicesto[ʂ],as inprzed/ˈpʂɛt/"before".

S

⟨sc⟩is used inItalianfor/ʃː/before the front vowel letters⟨e, i⟩.It is used for/s/in Catalan, Spanish, French, English, Occitan and Brazilian Portuguese (e.g. French/Englishreminiscence,Spanishreminiscencia,Brazilian Portuguesereminiscência,Catalanreminiscència,Occitanreminiscéncia); in European Portuguese this changed to/ʃ/in the early 20th century, although in careful speech it can be/ʃs/.However, it represents/z/in modern pronunciations ofcrescentinBritishand non-CanadianCommonwealth English.InOld Englishit usually represented/ʃ/.

⟨sç⟩is used inFrenchfor/s/in a few verb forms such as simple pastacquiesça/akjɛsa/.It is also used inPortugueseas in the imperative/conjunctive form of verbs ending with⟨scer⟩:crescercresça.Still pronounced/s/inBrazilian Portuguese,inEuropean Portuguesethis changed to/ʃ/in the early 20th century, although in careful speech it can be/ʃs/.

⟨sg⟩is used inPiedmonteseandCorsicanfor/ʒ/.

⟨sh⟩is used in several languages. In English, it represents/ʃ/.Seeseparate article.See also⟨ſh⟩below,which has the capitalized forms SH and ŞH.

⟨si⟩is used in English for/ʒ/in words such asfusion(seeyod-coalescence). InPolish,it represents/ɕ/whenever it precedes a vowel, and/ɕi/whenever it precedes a consonant (or at the end of the word), and is considered a graphic variant of⟨ś⟩appearing in other situations. InWelsh⟨si⟩is used for the sound/ʃ/as insiocled/ʃɔklɛd/('chocolate').

⟨sj⟩is usedSwedishto write thesjesound/ɧ/(see also⟨sk⟩) and inFaroese,Danish,NorwegianandDutchto writeVoiceless postalveolar fricative/ʃ/.

⟨sk⟩is used inSwedishto write thesjesound/ɧ/.It takes by rule this sound value before the front vowels (⟨e, i, y, ä, ö⟩) word or root initially (as insked(spoon)), while normally representing/sk/in other positions. In Norwegian and Faroese, it is used to writevoiceless postalveolar fricative/ʃ/(only in front of⟨i, y, ei, øy/oy⟩).

⟨sl⟩is used inIraqwandBouyeito write thelateral fricative/ɬ/.(⟨sl⟩is used in the French tradition to transcribe/ɬ/in other languages as well, as in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languages.)

⟨sp⟩is used inGermanfor/ʃp/as inSpaß/ʃpaːs/instead of using⟨schp⟩.

⟨sr⟩is used inKosraeanfor/ʂ/.In northern dialects ofScottish Gaelicit represents/s̪t̪ɾ/,as insràid/s̪t̪ɾaːtʲ/.

⟨ss⟩is used inPinyinfor/z/in languages such asYi.For its use in the Wade–Giles system of Romanization of Chinese, seeWade–Giles → Syllabic consonants.In English,⟨ss⟩typically represents/z/in the first⟨ss⟩ofpossessand its derivativespossessed,possesses,possession,possessiveandpossessor,brassiere,dessert,dissolutionand its derivativesdissolved,dissolvesanddissolving,Missoula(County),Missouri(an),scissors,and pronunciations ofAussieoutside the United States; otherwise, it represents/s/.In other languages, such asCatalan,Cornish,French,German,Italian,Occitan,PortugueseandCentral Alaskan Yup'ik,where⟨s⟩transcribes/z/between vowels (and elsewhere in the case of Yup'ik),⟨ss⟩is used for/s/in that position (/sː/in Italian and also in some cases in Cornish); English sometimes also follows this convention. In romanizedKorean,it represents the fortis sound/s͈/.InCypriot Arabicit is used for/sʰː/.

Also to note, there are spellings of words with⟨ss⟩as opposed to them with just one⟨s⟩,varied in different types of English. For the wordfocus,in British English the 3rd person singular, the past participle and the present participle are spelled with⟨ss⟩(i.e.focusses,focussedandfocussing) whereas in American English and usually Canadian and Australian English they are spelled with one⟨s⟩(i.e.focuses,focusedandfocusing).

⟨st⟩is used inGermanfor/ʃt/as inStadt/ʃtat/instead of using⟨scht⟩(or⟨cht⟩). In some parts of northern Germany, the pronunciation/st/(as in English) is still quite common in the local dialect.

⟨sv⟩is used inShonato write thewhistled sibilant/s͎/.This was written⟨ȿ⟩from 1931 to 1955.

⟨sx⟩is used inNambikwarafor aglottalized/sʔ/,and inEsperanto orthographyit isan unofficial surrogateof⟨ŝ⟩,that represents/ʃ/.

⟨sy⟩represents/ʃ/inMalayandTagalog.

⟨sz⟩is used in several languages. See article.

⟨s-c⟩and⟨s-cc⟩are used inPiedmontesefor the sequence/stʃ/.

⟨s-g⟩and⟨s-gg⟩are used inPiedmontesefor the sequence/zdʒ/.

T

⟨tc⟩is used for the palatal click/ǂ/inNaro,and to write the affricate/tʃ/inSandawe,HadzaandJuǀʼhoan.

⟨tf⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor thevoiceless dental affricate/t͡θ/

⟨tg⟩is used for/tχ/inNaro.InCatalan,it represents/d͡ʒ/. InRomanshorthographies it represents theAlveolo-palatal consonant/tɕ/.

⟨th⟩is used in several languages. In English, it can represent/ð/,/θ/or/t/.See article. See also:Pronunciation of English th.

⟨ti⟩,before a vowel, is usually pronounced/sj/in French and/tsj/in German and is commonly/ʃ/in English, especially in the suffix-tion.

⟨tj⟩is used inNorwegianandFaroesewords liketjære/tjøra('tar') for/ç/(Norwegian) and/tʃ/(Faroese). In the closely relatedSwedish alphabet,it represents/ɕ/,as intjära/ˈɕæːɾa/.It is also the standard written form of the/tʃ/sound inDutchand was likewise used in Dutch-based orthographies that used to apply for languages in Indonesia and Surinam. In thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languagessuch asWarlpiri,Arrernte,andPitjantjatjara,it represents apostalveolar stop,transcribedin theInternational Phonetic Alphabetas/ṯ/or/ḏ/depending on voicing. This sound is also written⟨dj⟩,⟨ty⟩,⟨dy⟩,⟨c⟩,or⟨j⟩.In Catalan it represents/d͡ʒ/. InJuǀʼhoanit is used for theejectiveaffricate/tʃʼ/.

⟨tk⟩is used inJuǀʼhoanfor the uvularizedejective/tᵡʼ/.

⟨tl⟩is used in various orthographies for thevoiceless alveolar lateral affricate/tɬ/.In Catalan it represents/lː/,although it may be simplify to/l/in some dialects.

⟨tł⟩is used in the transcription ofAthabascan languagesfor a lateral affricate/tɬ/or/tɬʰ/.

⟨tm⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulatedandnasally released/t̪͡pn̪͡m/.In Catalan, it is used to represent/mː/,that can result not geminated as well,/m/,as insetmana(pronounced/səˈmːanə/in standard Catalan and/seˈmana/inValencian).

⟨tn⟩is used for a prestopped nasal/ᵗn/inArrernte,and for the similar/t̪n̪/inYélî Dnye.In Catalan it represents/nː/,although it may be simplify to/n/in some dialects.

⟨tp⟩is used inYélî Dnyefordoubly articulated/t̪͡p/.

⟨tr⟩generally represents a sound like aretroflexversion of English "ch" in areas of German influence, such asTruklagoon,now spelled⟨chuuk⟩.For instance, inMalagasyit represents/tʂ/.In southerndialectsofVietnamese,⟨tr⟩represents avoiceless retroflex affricate/tʂ/.In the northern dialects, this sound is pronounced/tɕ/,just like what⟨ch⟩represents.⟨tr⟩was formerly considered a distinct letter of theVietnamese alphabet,but today is not.

⟨ts⟩is used in theBasque,where it represents anapicalvoiceless alveolar affricate/t̺s̺/.It contrasts with⟨tz⟩,which islaminal/t̻s̻/.It is mainly used to Latinize the letterTse (Cyrillic)(ц) InHausa,⟨ts⟩represents an alveolar ejective fricative/sʼ/or affricate/tsʼ/), depending on dialect. It is considered a distinct letter, and placed between⟨t⟩and⟨u⟩inalphabetical order.It is also used inCatalanfor/t͡s/.It is also used inHausa Boko.In central-westernAsturianit's used for/t͡s/.

TheWade-GilesandYaleromanizations ofChineseuse⟨ts⟩for anunaspiratedvoiceless alveolar affricate/ts/.Wade–Giles also uses⟨ts'⟩for the aspirated equivalent/tsʰ/.These are equivalent toPinyin⟨z⟩and⟨c⟩,respectively. TheHepburn romanizationofJapaneseuses⟨ts⟩for avoiceless alveolar affricate/ts/). In native Japanese words, this sound only occurs before⟨u⟩,but it may occur before other vowels inloanwords.Other romanization systems write/tsu/as⟨tu⟩.⟨Ts⟩inTagalogis used for/tʃ/.The sequence⟨ts⟩occurs in English, but it has no special function and simply represents a sequence of⟨t⟩and⟨s⟩.It occurs word-initially only in someloanwords,such astsunamiandtsar.Most English-speakers do not pronounce a/t/in such words and pronounce them as if they were spelled⟨sunami⟩and⟨sar⟩or⟨zar⟩,respectively.

⟨ts̃⟩was used in medievalBasqueand inAzkue's Basque dictionaryfor avoiceless postalveolar affricate/t͡ʃ/;this is now represented by⟨tx⟩.

⟨tt⟩is used inBasquefor/c/,and in romanizedKabylefor/ts/.In romanizedKorean,it represents the fortis sound/t͈/,in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) it is ejective/tʼ/,and inCypriot Arabic,it represents/tʰː/.

⟨tw⟩is used for/tʷ/inArrernte.

⟨tx⟩is used inBasque,Catalanand some indigenous languages ofSouth America,for avoiceless postalveolar affricate/t͡ʃ/.InNambikwarait represents aglottalized/tʔ/.InJuǀʼhoanit is used for theuvularized-release/tᵡ/.

⟨ty⟩is used in theHungarian alphabetfor/cç/,avoiceless palatal affricate;in Hungarian, digraphs are considered single letters, andacronymskeep them intact. In Xhosa,⟨ty⟩represents/tʲʼ/and the similar/tʲʼ/in the AlgonquianMassachusett orthography.InShona,it represents/tʃk/.In Tagalog it represents/tʃ/.In thetranscription of Australian Aboriginal languagessuch asWarlpiri,andArrernte,it represents a postalveolar stop, either voiceless/ṯ/or voiced/ḏ/.(This sound is also written⟨tj⟩,⟨dj⟩,⟨dy⟩,⟨c⟩,and⟨j⟩). InCypriot Arabic,it represents/c/.

⟨tz⟩is used inBasque,GermanandNahuatlfor thevoiceless alveolar affricate/t͡s/). In Basque, this sound islaminaland contrasts with theapicalaffricate represented by⟨ts⟩.It is also used in Catalan to represent thevoiced alveolar affricate/d͡z/. InJuǀʼhoanit is used for theejectiveaffricate/tsʼ/. For its use in the Wade–Giles system of Romanization of Chinese, seeWade–Giles → Syllabic consonants.

U

⟨u′⟩is used inTaafor theglottalizedorcreakyvowel/ṵ/.

⟨ua⟩is used in Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and theRomanized Popular Alphabetused to writeHmong,to represent the diphthong/uə/.

⟨uc⟩is used inNahuatlfor/kʷ/before a consonant. Before a vowel,⟨cu⟩is used.

⟨ue⟩is found in many languages. InEnglish,it represents/juː/or/uː/as incueortrue,respectively. InGerman,it is/ʏ/or/yː/(equivalent to⟨ü⟩), appearing mainly in proper nouns. InCantonese Romanisation,it represents/yː/in a non-initial position.

⟨ûe⟩is used inAfrikaansto represent/œː/.

⟨ug⟩is used inCentral Alaskan Yup'ikfor/ɣʷ/.

⟨uh⟩is used in Taa for the breathy ormurmuredvowel/ṳ/.InNahuatl,it is used for/w/before a consonant. Before a vowel,⟨hu⟩is used.

⟨ui⟩is used inDutchfor the diphthong/œy/.InIrish,it is/ɪ/after a broad (velarized) consonant. InScottish Gaelicit normally represents/u/,however before⟨m, n, ng, s⟩or before⟨ll, m, nn⟩preceding a vowel, it represents/ɯ/,and before⟨dh⟩or before⟨ll, m, nn⟩word-finally or pre-consonant, it represents/ɯi/.InGerman,it represents the diphthong/ʊɪ̯/,which appears only ininterjectionssuch as"pfui!".In Mandarinpinyin,it is used for/wei̯/after a consonant (spelt⟨wei⟩in the initial position). InCantonese Romanisation,it represents/uːy/or/ɵy/.InScotsit represents/ø/,e.g.bluid"blood",duin"done",muin"moon" andspuin"spoon". InEnglish,when used as a digraph, it represents/uː/infruit,juice,suitandpursuit.However, after⟨g⟩,the⟨u⟩functions as a modifier (marking⟨g⟩as/ɡ/rather than/dʒ/), e.g.guild,guilty,sanguine,Guinea,guideetc.), it is also used for other sounds, in cases of unusual etymological spelling, e.g.circuit,biscuit,build.

⟨ũi⟩is used in Portuguese for/ũː/

⟨uĩ⟩is used in Portuguese for/wĩː/

⟨uí⟩is used inIrishfor/iː/between a broad and a slender consonant.

⟨úi⟩is used in Irish for/uː/between a broad and a slender consonant.

⟨ùi⟩is used in Scottish Gaelic for/uː/between a broad and a slender consonant.

⟨um⟩is used inPortuguesefor/ũ/,and inFrenchto write/œ̃/(only before a consonant and at the end of a word).

⟨úm⟩is used in Portuguese for/ũ/before a consonant.

⟨un⟩is used in many languages for anasal vowel.In Portuguese before a consonant, and in manyWest Africanlanguages, it is/ũ/,while in French it is/œ̃/,or among the younger generation/ɛ̃/.Inpinyin,/u̯ən/is spelled⟨un⟩after a consonant,⟨wen⟩initially.

⟨ún⟩is used in Portuguese for/ũ/before a consonant.

⟨ün⟩is used inTibetan Pinyinfor/ỹ/.

⟨uŋ⟩is used inLakhotafor the nasal vowel/ũ/.

⟨uo⟩is used inPinyinfor/o/in languages such asYi,where⟨o⟩stands for/ɔ/.

⟨uq⟩is used inTaa,for thepharyngealizedvowel/uˤ/.

⟨ur⟩is used inCentral Alaskan Yup'ikfor/ʁʷ/,and inPinyinto write thetrilledvowel/ʙ̝/in languages such asYi.

⟨uu⟩is used in many languages with phonemic long vowels, for/uː/.InDutch,it is used for/y/.

⟨uw⟩is used in Dutch for/yu̯/,e.g.uw"yours",duwen"to push". InCornishit is used for/iʊ/or/yʊ/.

⟨uy⟩is used inAfrikaansfor/œy/.

⟨ux⟩isunofficiallyused inEsperanto,instead of⟨ŭ⟩,for/u̯/.

⟨u_e⟩(asplit digraph) is used in English for/juː/or/uː/.

V

⟨vb⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor thelabiodental flap/ⱱ/.

⟨vg⟩was used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thevoiceless palatal click/ǂ/.

⟨vh⟩represents/v̤/inShona.It was also used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor theaspiratedpalatal click/ǂʰ/.

⟨vk⟩was used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thevoiceless palatal click/ǂ/(equivalent to⟨vg⟩).

⟨vn⟩was used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thepalatal nasal click/ᵑǂ/.

⟨vv⟩is used inCentral Alaskan Yup'ikfor/f/.

⟨vr⟩is used inQuechua.

W

⟨wh⟩is used inEnglishto representProto-Germanic/hw/,the continuation of thePIElabiovelar*/kʷ/(which became⟨qu⟩inLatinand theRomance languages). Most English question words begin with this digraph, hence the termswh-wordandwh-question.In Old English, /hw/ was spelled⟨huu⟩or⟨hƿ⟩,and only the former was retained during theMiddle Englishperiod, becoming⟨hw⟩during the gradual development of the letter⟨w⟩during the 14th-17th centuries. In most dialects it is now pronounced/w/,but a distinct pronunciation realized as avoiceless w sound,[ʍ], is retained in some areas:Scotland,central and southernIreland,southeasternUnited States,and (mostly among older speakers) inNew Zealand.In a few words (who,whose,etc.) the pronunciation used among almost all speakers regardless of geography is/h/.For details, seePronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩.
InMāori,⟨wh⟩represents/ɸ/or more commonly/f/,with some regional variations approaching/h/or/hw/.In theTaranakiregion, for some speakers, this represents a glottalized/wʼ/.InXhosa,it represents/w̤/,a murmured variant of/w/found in loan words. InCornish,it represents/ʍ/.

⟨wr⟩is used inEnglishfor words which formerly began/wr/,nowreduced to /r/in virtually all dialects.

⟨wu⟩is used in Mandarinpinyinto write the vowel/u/in initial position, as in the nameWuhan.It is sometimes found with this value in Romanized Korean as well, as inhanwu.InCantonese Romanisation,it is used to represent/wuː/in an initial position or/uː/in a non-initial position.

⟨ww⟩is used in Haida (Bringhurst orthography) for glottalized/ˀw/.

⟨wx⟩is used inNambikwarafor aglottalized/ˀw/.

X

⟨xc⟩is used in thePortuguesefor/s/.

⟨xf⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor the labialized fricative/xʷ/.

⟨xg⟩is used to write the click/ǁχ/inNaro.It was used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thevoiceless lateral click/ǁ/.

⟨xh⟩is used inAlbanianto write thevoiced postalveolar affricate/dʒ/,as in the surnameHoxha/ˈhɔdʒa/.InZuluandXhosait represents thevoiceless aspiratedalveolar lateral click/kǁʰ/,e.g.Xhosa/ˈkǁʰoːsa/.InWalloonit represents a consonant that is variously/h/,/ʃ/,/ç~x/,depending on the dialect. In CanadianTlingitit represents/χ/,which is represented by⟨x̱⟩in Alaska.

⟨xi⟩is used in English for/kʃ/in words such asflexion.(It is equivalent to⟨c⟩plus the digraph⟨ti⟩,as inaction.)

⟨xk⟩was used in the Tindall orthography ofKhoekhoefor thevoiceless lateral click/ǁ/(equivalent to⟨xg⟩).

⟨xö⟩is used as a letter of theSerialphabet, where it represents alabializeduvular fricative,/χʷ/.It is placed between⟨x⟩and⟨y⟩inalphabetical order.

⟨xs⟩is used inPortuguesein the wordexsudar/ˌe.su.ˈda(ʁ)/inBrazilian Portuguese.InEuropean Portuguesethis digraph changed to/ʃs/in the early 20th century and the word came to be pronounced as/ɐjʃ.su.ˈðaɾ/

⟨xu⟩was used in theOsseteLatin alphabet for/χʷ/.

⟨xw⟩is used in theKurdishand theTlingit languagefor/xʷ/.

⟨x̱w⟩is used in AlaskanTlingitfor/χʷ/,which in Canada is written⟨xhw⟩.

⟨xx⟩is used inHadzafor the glottalized click/ᵑǁˀ/,and inCypriot Arabicfor/χː/.

⟨xy⟩is used in theHmongRomanized Popular Alphabetto write/ç/.

Y

⟨ye⟩used in various languages. In English it represents/aɪ/word finally, e.g.byeordye.

⟨yh⟩was used in thepre-1985 orthography of Guinea,for the "ejective y" orpalatalizedglottal stop(/ʔʲ/) inPular(aFula language) and inHausato represent acreaky voicedpalatal approximant[j̰].In the current orthography it is now written⟨ƴ⟩.InXhosait represents/j̤/.In a handful of Australian languages, it represents a "dental semivowel".

⟨yi⟩is used in Mandarinpinyinto write/i/when it forms an entire syllable.

⟨yk⟩is used inYanyuwafor a pre-velarstop,/ɡ̟~k̟/.

⟨ym⟩is used inFrenchto write/ɛ̃/(/im/before another vowel), as inthym/tɛ̃/"thyme".

⟨yn⟩is used inFrenchto write/ɛ̃/in some words of Greek origin, such assyncope/sɛ̃kɔp/"syncope".

⟨yr⟩is used inPinyinto write thetrilledvowel/r̝/in languages such asYi.

⟨yu⟩is used in romanized Chinese to write the vowel/y/.In Mandarinpinyinit is used for/y/in initial position, whereas in CantoneseJyutpingit is used for/yː/in non-initial position. In theYale romanization of CantoneseandCantonese Romanisation,it represents/jyː/in an initial position and/yː/in a non-initial position.

⟨yw⟩is used for/jʷ/inArrernteand fordoubly articulated/ɥ/inYélî Dnye.It is used inCornishfor the diphthongs/iʊ/,/ɪʊ/,or/ɛʊ/.

⟨yx⟩in used inNambikwarafor aglottalized/ˀj/.

⟨yy⟩is used in some languages such asFinnishto write the long vowel/yː/.In Haida (Bringhurst orthography) it is represents glottalized/ˀj/.Used in someAsturiandialects to represent/ɟ͡ʝ/.

⟨y_e⟩(asplit digraph) indicates an English'long y'(equivalent to⟨i...e⟩).

Z

⟨zh⟩represents thevoiced postalveolar fricative(/ʒ/), like the⟨s⟩inpleasure,inAlbanianand inNative Americanorthographies such asNavajo.It is used for the same sound in some English-language dictionaries, as well as to transliterate the sound when represented byCyrillic⟨ж⟩andPersian⟨ژ⟩into English, but is rarely seen in English words, appearing primarily in foreign borrowings (e.g.muzhik) and slang (e.g.zhoosh).⟨zh⟩as a digraph is rare in European languages using theLatin alphabet;in addition to Albanian it is found inBretonin words that are pronounced with/z/in some dialects and/h/in others. InHanyu Pinyin,⟨zh⟩represents thevoiceless retroflex affricate/tʂ/.WhenMalayalamandTamilare transliterated into the Latin script,⟨zh⟩represents aretroflex approximant(Malayalamഴand Tamilழ⟨ḻ⟩[ɻ]).

⟨zi⟩inPolishrepresents/ʑ/whenever it precedes a vowel, and/ʑi/whenever it precedes a consonant (or in the end of the word), and is considered a graphic variant of⟨ź⟩appearing in other situations.

⟨zl⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor thevoiced lateral fricative/ɮ/

⟨zr⟩is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for/ʐ/.

⟨zs⟩is the last (forty-fourth) letter of theHungarian alphabet.Its name iszséand represents/ʒ/,avoiced postalveolar fricative,similar to⟨j⟩inJacquesand beside⟨s⟩invision.A few examples arerózsa"rose" andzsír"fat".

⟨zv⟩is used inShonato write thewhistled sibilant/z͎/.This was written⟨ɀ⟩from 1931 to 1955.

⟨zz⟩is used inPinyinfor/dz/in languages such asYi.It is also used with that value in romanizedKabyle.In medievalCzech,it stood for/s/.InHadzait is ejective/tsʼ/.

Other

⟨ɛn⟩,capital⟨Ɛn⟩,is used in manyWest Africanlanguages for the nasal vowel/ɛ̃/.⟨ɛ⟩is an "open e".

⟨ɔn⟩,capital⟨Ɔn⟩,is used in many West African languages for the nasal vowel/ɔ̃/.⟨ɔ⟩is an "open o".

⟨œu⟩,capital⟨Œu⟩,is used inFrenchfor the vowels/œ/and/ø/.The first element of the digraph,⟨œ⟩,is itself is aligatureof⟨o⟩and⟨e⟩,and⟨œu⟩may also be written as thetrigraph⟨oeu⟩.

⟨ŋg⟩is used in theGeneral Alphabet of Cameroon Languagesfor/ᵑɡ/.

⟨ŋk⟩is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for/ᵑk/.

⟨ŋm⟩is used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages for thelabial-velar nasal/ŋ͡m/.

⟨ŋv⟩,capital⟨Ŋv⟩,was used for/ŋʷ/in the old orthography ofZhuangandBouyei;this is now spelled with thetrigraph⟨ngv⟩.

⟨ŋʼ⟩is used inAdzerafor the prenasalized glottal stop/ⁿʔ/.

⟨ſh⟩,capital⟨SH⟩or sometimes⟨ŞH⟩,was a digraph used in the SloveneBohorič alphabetfor/ʃ/.The first element,⟨ſ⟩,thelong s,is an archaic non-final form of the letter⟨s⟩.

⟨ǃʼ⟩⟨ǀʼ⟩⟨ǁʼ⟩⟨ǂʼ⟩are used inJuǀʼhoanfor its fourglottalized nasal clicks,/ᵑǃˀ,ᵑǀˀ,ᵑǁˀ,ᵑǂˀ/.

⟨ǃg⟩⟨ǀg⟩⟨ǁg⟩⟨ǂg⟩are used inKhoekhoefor its four tenuisclicks,/ǃ,ǀ,ǁ,ǂ/.

⟨ǃh⟩⟨ǀh⟩⟨ǁh⟩⟨ǂh⟩are used in Khoekhoe for its four aspiratednasal clicks,/ᵑ̊ǃʰ,ᵑ̊ǀʰ,ᵑ̊ǁʰ,ᵑ̊ǂʰ/,and in Juǀʼhoan for its plain aspirated clicks,/ǃʰ,ǀʰ,ǁʰ,ǂʰ/.

⟨ǃk⟩⟨ǀk⟩⟨ǁk⟩⟨ǂk⟩are used in Juǀʼhoan for its four affricateejective-contour clicks,/ǃ͡χʼ,ǀ͡χʼ,ǁ͡χʼ,ǂ͡χʼ/.

⟨ǃn⟩⟨ǀn⟩⟨ǁn⟩⟨ǂn⟩are used in Khoekhoe for its four plainnasal clicks,/ᵑǃ,ᵑǀ,ᵑǁ,ᵑǂ/.

⟨ǃx⟩⟨ǀx⟩⟨ǁx⟩⟨ǂx⟩are used in Juǀʼhoan for its four affricatepulmonic-contour clicks,/ǃ͡χ,ǀ͡χ,ǁ͡χ,ǂ͡χ/.

⟨ьj⟩was used inYañalifand someTurkic languagesfor the diphthong/ɤj/.

See also

• Trigraph
  • List of Latin-script trigraphs
• Tetragraph
  • List of Latin-script tetragraphs
• Pentagraph
  • List of Latin-script pentagraphs
• Hexagraph
• Heptagraph
• List of Latin letters
• List of Cyrillic digraphs