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Alphabets derived from the Latin

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Variants of the Latin alphabet are used by the writing systems of many languages throughout the world. The tables below summarize and compare several of those alphabets.

Basic Latin Alphabet

Usage of basic Latin letters (A–Z) in various languages
 Alphabet A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Latin  A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z
Albanian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z
Basque A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U X Z
Croatian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Czech A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z
Esperanto A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Estonian A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Faroese A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y  
Guaraní  A E G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y  
Hungarian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Icelandic A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Y  
Irish A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U  
Italian A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V Z
Kashubian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z
Łacinka A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z
Latvian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Lithuanian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z
Maltese A B D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Z
Polish A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z
Portuguese A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R S T U V X Z
Romanian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V X Z
Scots Gaelic A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U  
Slovenian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Serbian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Z
Sorbian A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z
Turkish A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z
Vietnamese A B C D E G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y  
Walloon A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Y Z
Welsh A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U W Y  

The Afrikaans, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Kurdish, Norwegian, Pársik (Persian), Slovak, Spanish, Swedish and Zulu alphabets contain all 26 letters.

In many of the languages listed above, the "missing" letters are used for vernacular words of foreign origin and their derivatives (such as newtoniano in Italian and Portuguese) or metric units (like W for watt and V for volt).

Extended Latin Alphabet

The characters in the following tables may not all render, depending on operating system and browser version and the presence or absence of Unicode fonts.

Letters based on A-J

Derived Latin letters in various languages (A–J)
 Alphabet À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ā Ă Ą Ç Ć Ĉ Ċ Č Ð Ď Đ È É Ê Ë Ē Ė Ę Ě Ə Ĝ Ğ Ġ Ģ Ĥ Ħ Ì Í Î Ï Ī Į İ I IJ Ĵ
à á â ã ä å æ ā ă ą ç ć ĉ ċ č ð ď đ è é ê ë ē ė ę ě ə ĝ ğ ġ ģ ĥ ħ ì í î ï ī į i ı ij ĵ
Latin  Æ  
Albanian  Ç Ë  
Azeri Ç Ə Ğ İ ı  
Basque  
Catalan  À Ç È É Í Ï  
Croatian 

Ć Č Đ  
Czech  Á Č Ď É Ě Í  
Danish  Å Æ  
Dutch  IJ  
Esperanto Ĉ Ĝ Ĥ Ĵ 
Estonian Ä  
Faroese Á Æ Ð Í  
Finnish Ä Å  
French  À Â Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Î Ï  
German Ä  
Guaraní  Á Ã É Í  
Hungarian  Á É Í  
Icelandic Á Æ Ð É Í  
Irish  Á É Í  
Italian  À È É Ì  
Kashubian à Ą É Ë  
Kurdish Ç Ê Î  
Łacinka  Ć Č  
Latvian Ā Č Ē Ģ Ī  
Lithuanian  Ą Č Ė Ę Į  
Maltese  Ċ Ġ Ħ  
Norwegian  Å Æ  
Pársik  À Á Â Ã Ä Å Ă Ç È É Ê Ë Ě Ì Í Ï  
Polish  Ą Ć Ę  
Portuguese  À Á Â Ã Ç É Ê Í  
Romanian  à Π 
Scots Gaelic À È Ì  
Slovak  Á Ä Č Ď É Í  
Slovenian Č  
Serbian Ć Č Đ  
Sorbian Ć Č Ě  
Spanish  Á É Í  
Swedish Ä Å  
Turkish Ç Ğ İ ı  
Vietnamese  Â Ă Đ Ê  
Walloon  Â Å Ç È É Ê Î  
Welsh   

Letters based on K-Z

Derived Latin letters in various languages (K–Z)
 Alphabet Ķ Ļ Ł Ñ Ń Ņ Ň Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Ő Œ Ơ Ŕ Ř   Ś Ŝ Ş Š Þ Ţ Ť Ù Ú Û Ü Ū Ŭ Ů Ű Ų Ư Ŵ Ý Ŷ Ÿ Ź Ż Ž
ķ ļ ł ñ ń ņ ň ò ó ô õ ö ø ő œ ơ ŕ ř ß ś ŝ ş š þ ţ ť ù ú û ü ū ŭ ů ű ų ư ŵ ý ŷ ÿ ź ż ž
Latin  Œ  
Albanian   
Azeri Ö Ş Ü  
Basque  Ñ  
Catalan  Ò Ó Ú Ü  
Croatian  Š Ž
Czech  Ň Ó Ř Š Ť Ú Ů Ý Ž
Danish  Ø  
Dutch   
Esperanto Ŝ Ŭ  
Estonian Õ Ö Š Ü Ž
Faroese Ó Ø Ú Ý  
Finnish Ö Š Ž
French  Ô Œ Ù Û Ü Ÿ  
German  Ö ß Ü  
Guaraní  Ñ Ó Õ Ú Ű Ý  
Hungarian  Ó Ö Ő Ú Ü Ű  
Icelandic Ó Ö Þ Ú  
Irish  Ó Ú  
Italian  Ò Ù  
Kashubian Ł Ń Ò Ó Ô Ù Ż  
Kurdish Ş Û  
Łacinka  Ł Ń Ś Š Ŭ Ź Ž
Latvian Ķ Ļ Ņ Š Ū Ž
Lithuanian  Š Ū Ų Ž
Maltese  Ż  
Norwegian  Ø  
Pársik  Ò Ó Ö Ù Ü  
Polish  Ł Ń Ó Ś Ź Ż  
Portuguese  Ó Ô Õ Ú Ü  
Romanian Ş Ţ  
Scots Gaelic Ò Ù  
Slovak  Ň Ó Ô Ŕ Š Ť Ú Ý Ž
Slovenian Š Ž
Serbian Š Ž
Sorbian Ł Ń Ó Ŕ Ř Ś Š Ź Ž
Spanish  Ñ Ó Ú Ü  
Swedish Ö  
Turkish Ö Ş Ü  
Vietnamese  Ô Ơ Ư  
Walloon  Ô Û  
Welsh  Ŵ Ŷ  

Notes

  1. In Latin, the letters J, W and U (or, rather the distinction between I and J, between U and V and between W and VV) were added to the alphabet only in Mediæval times, as were the digraphs Æ and Œ and all lowercase letters.
  2. Albanian also has the digraphs: dh, gj, ll, nj, rr, sh, th, xh, zh.
  3. Basque has the digraphs: dd, rr, ts, tt, tx, tz. Digraph rr only occur between vowels.
  4. Catalan also has the digraphs: ll, ny, l·l, rr, ss, dz, tz, ig, ix, gu, (gü), qu, (qü), nc.
  5. Croatian also has the digraphs: dž, lj, nj. It can also be written with four tone markers above on top of the vowels. Note that Croatian Latin is the same as Serbian Latin and they both map 1:1 to Serbian Cyrillic, where digraphs map to cyrillic letters џ, љ and њ, respectively.
  6. Czech also has the digraph: ch.
  7. The Norwegian alphabet is currently identical with the Danish, but lately, there has been humoristically proposed to add the letter Kjell to the Norwegian alphabet (after the letter L), so that the sound which is commonly spelled kj may be written with a single letter.
  8. Dutch historically used ÿ instead of ij.
  9. In standard French, uppercase diacritics are never obligatory, but always the good style. Many pairs or triplets are read as digraphs or trigraphs depending on context, but are not treated as such lexicographically: consonnants ph, (ng), th, gu/gü, qu, ce, ch/(sh/sch), rh; vocal vowels (ee), ai/ay, ei/ey, eu, au/eau, ou; nasal vowels ain/aim, in/im/ein, un/um/eun, an/am, en/em, om/on; the half-consonnant -(i)ll-; half-consonnant and vowel pairs oi, oin/ouin, ien, ion. When rules that govern the French orthography are not observed, they are read as separate letters, or using an approximating phonology of a foreign language for loan words, and there are many exceptions. In addition, most final consonnants are mute (including those consonnants that are part of feminine, plural, and conjugating désinences). Accents on uppercase letters are generally obligatory in Canada.
  10. German also retains most original letters in French loan words. Swiss German does not use ß any more. The long s (ſ) was in use until the mid-20th century. Sch is usually not treated like a true trigraph, neither are ch and qu digraphs. Q only appears in the sequence qu, y only (and x almost only) in loan words.
  11. Guaraní also uses tilde over e, i, y, and g (the last one not available precomposed in Unicode), as well as digraphs ch, mb, nd, ng, nt, rr and the glottal stop ' .
  12. Hungarian also has the digraphs: cs, dz, gy, ly, ny, sz, ty, zs; and the trigraph: dzs.
  13. Irish formerly used the dot diacritic in ḃ, ċ, ḋ, ḟ, ġ, ṁ, ṗ, ṡ, ṫ. These have been replaced by the digraphs: bh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, sh, th.
  14. Italian also has the digraphs: ch, gh, gn, gl, sc.
  15. Łacinka also has the digraphs: dz, dź, dž.
  16. Latvian also has the digraphs: dz, dž, ie, as well as the tripthong o. Dz and are occasionally considered separate letters of the alphabet in more archaic examples (which have been published as recently as the 1950s,) however modern alphabets and teachings discourage this due to an ongoing effort to set decisive rules for Latvian (and eliminate barbaric words accumulated during the Soviet occupation.) The digraph "ie" is never considered a separate letter. The Latvian o is also the only single-letter tripthong in all languages- in one letter it has the three vowel sounds u, o, and a, which combine into uoa.
  17. Lithuanian also has the digraphs: ch, dz, dž, ie, uo. However, these are not considered separate letters of the alphabet.
  18. Maltese also has the digraphs: ie, għ.
  19. Pársik (International Persian Alphabet) also has the digraphs: sc, zc.
  20. Polish also has the digraphs: ch, cz, dz, dż, dź, sz, rz.
  21. Portuguese also has the digraphs: ch, gu, lh, nh, ou, qu, rr, ss.
  22. Slovak also has the digraphs: dz, dž, ch and unique letters Ľ/ľ, Ĺ.
  23. Spanish also has the digraphs: ch, ll, rr. The cedilla ç used earlier has been replaced completely by z.
  24. Vietnamese has five tone markers that can go on top (or below) any of the 12 vowels (a, ă, â, e, ê, i, o, ô, ơ, u, ư, y); e.g.: grave accent (à, ằ, ầ, è, ề, ì, ò, ồ, ờ, ù, ừ, ỳ), hook above (ả, ẳ, ẩ, ẻ, ể, ỉ, ỏ, ổ, ở, ủ, ử, ỷ), tilde (ã, ẵ, ẫ, ẽ, ễ, ĩ, õ, ỗ, ỡ, ũ, ữ, ỹ), accute accent (á, ắ, ấ, é, ế, í, ó, ố, ớ, ú, ứ, ý), and dot below (ạ, ặ, ậ, ẹ, ệ, ị, ọ, ộ, ợ, ụ, ự, ỵ). It also uses the digraphs: ch, gi, kh, ng, nh, ph, th, tr, but they are no longer considered letters.
  25. Walloon has the digraphs and trigraphs: ae, ch, dj, ea, jh, oe, oen, oi, sch, sh, tch, xh; the letter x is only used in xh digraph, the letter j is almost only used in dj and jh digraphs
  26. Welsh has the digraphs ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, th. It also occasionally uses circumflexes, diaereses, acute accents and grave accents on its seven vowels (a, e, i, o, u, w, y), but these are not regarded as separate letters of the alphabet.

Other alphabets based on the Latin alphabet

Several transcription and transliterations.

External links

 


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