The letter X has found use as we explore new ways of describing gender identity and expression, which you can read about here. That’s because we often equate it with the prefix ex-, meaning “out of” or “without.” We also use ex as a verb to mean putting an X over something, literally or metaphorically, as in I exed out the name on the list. The spelling of the letter X, ex, might seem foreboding. Why do we have uppercase and lowercase letters? X – ex Before it was merged into one letter ( W), the sound was represented with the the digraph -uu- or double-u. As we noted already, we don’t usually spell vowels out, so we end up with the awkward double-u. The letter W is one of the stranger letters in the alphabet, and so is its spelling. You see this most often when describing certain clothing elements, such as a vee neckline or a vee-shaped dart. V – veeĪnother letter that pops up in fashion is V or vee. The tee shirt is so named because it is a shirt in the shape of a T. T – teeĪ letter whose spelling you are more likely to be familiar with is T or tee, because it often appears in spellings of T-shirt (e.g., tee-shirt). Along with cee and jay, ess can also be used to describe “something shaped like an S,” as in The roads were laid out nested double esses along the riverbank. The snake-like S is spelled ess, with two terminal -s‘s. The letter R was called by the Roman poet Persius littera canina or “the canine letter.” It was so named because pronouncing ar sounds like a dog’s growl. The name of the letter R sounds like something a pirate might say: ar. In acting scripts, the Latin quandō, meaning “when” was abbreviated q, which later came to be spelled cue. The use of cue as a verb or noun to refer to “anything that excites to action” comes from another abbreviation related to the letter itself. The letter Q has the honor of being one of two letters that is not included in the spelling of its own name: cue. The use of pee as a verb and noun to refer to urination actually comes from a euphemism for the vulgar piss, using the spelling of the initial letter in piss: P. The most scatological letter name is pee ( P). The en dash (–) is shorter than an em dash (-).
The en dash is, you guessed it, the width of the letter N when printed. Much like the letters em and en themselves, the em-dash and en-dash are often mixed up. The name of the punctuation mark comes from the fact that it is the width of the letter M when printed. The spelling of the letter M, em, can be found in the name of the punctuation mark em dash (-). However, it is also the spelling for the letter L. L – elĮl is most easily recognizable as the common abbreviation for elevated railroad. Okay is a unique Americanism that you can read more about here. Just like in okay, K is typically spelled k-a-y. You may already be familiar with the spelling of the letter K from the expression okay, or OK. Like C, the spelling jay can be useful when describing something in the shape of the letter. The letter J has a long and complicated history-it began as a swash, a typographical embellishment for the already existing I-but its spelling is relatively straightforward: jay. The letter comes from Northern Semitic languages and its modern corollary is the Hebrew letter heth. It is spelled aitch, but the pronunciation of its name is. The letter H has a tricky spelling and pronunciation. Have you met these two extinct alphabet letters? Take a look! H – aitch Particularly in American slang, the spelled out name gee is used as an abbreviation for grand, in the sense of “thousand dollars.” With the exception of ef, the letter G is spelled like the other letters we have seen so far: gee. The spelled out name ef is occasionally used as an abbreviation for much saltier language. Like the letter B, dee originally had another name in the Phoenician alphabet: daleth. Like B and C, the letter D is spelled out with -ee: d-e-e. You might be picking up on a pattern here. The spelling cee might come in handy especially when writing about something “shaped or formed like the letter C,” as in she was curled in a cee, holding her pillow. It isn’t spelled with an S but a C: c-e-e. The spelling of the letter C might surprise you. Before it was bee, the letter B was part of the Phoenician alphabet and was known as beth. The plural is bees, like something you might find in a hive. The letter B is spelled just like the insect: b-e-e.
If you’ve always minded your p’s and q’s and know your letters to a tee, then you should head over to our quiz on how the letters of the alphabet are spelled. 🖋 Will our quiz on spelling spell victory for you?
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