Y
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| The Latin alphabet | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | ||
| Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj |
| Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp |
| Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | |
| Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz | ||
Y is the twenty-fifth (number 25) letter in the English alphabet.[1] It is sometimes considered a vowel. In words like say, yell, and they, the Y is a consonant. In words like sty, cry, and fly, the Y is considered a vowel.
Contents
Where it came from[change | edit source]
Semitic, Phoenician, Greek and Latin[change | edit source]
"Y" has appeared as the Semitic letter "waw". This was the first time it appeared in an alphabet. F, U, V, and W also come from the Semitic alphabet. The Greek and Latin alphabets used the Phoenician form of this early alphabet. There are similarities to the old English letter yogh (Ȝȝ). The table shows where the letter "y" came from.
| Phoenician | Greek | Latin | English (approximate times of changes) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old | Middle | Now | |||
|
 |
 → |
U → | /U/UU → |
/U/ |
 → |
(vowel /y/) → |
(vowel /i/) → |
(vowels) |
||
 |
 |
C → | |||
| G → | Ȝ → | G → | |||
| consonantal /j/ → |
(consonant) |
||||
| Þ → | /th/ |
- | |||
Meanings for Y[change | edit source]
References[change | edit source]
- ↑ "Y" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "wy," op. cit.
