Latin alphabet
Western writing system
The Latin alphabet is the writing system used for English and most Western European languages, consisting of the 26 letters A through Z.
Originally developed for Latin, it spread throughout the Roman Empire and later the world through colonization and trade.
Most languages that use it add diacritical marks or extra letters to represent sounds the basic alphabet lacks: Spanish has ñ, German has ß.
Also called the Roman alphabet.
Minimal written symbol unit
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- diacriticsMarks altering letter pronunciation
- transliterationCross-script phonetic spelling
romanization · digraph · trigraph · transcription · IPA · spelling · pronunciation · literacy
Highest academic mark
Character style set
- typefaceLettering style design
- serifLetter terminal flourish
- sans-serifType without terminal strokes
- glyphsCarved symbolic figures
typesetting · lettering · characters · Helvetica · Times · Arial · Futura · kerning
Script-to-alphabet conversion process
- PinyinMandarin transliteration system
- VietnameseOf Southeast Asian nation
- TurkishOf Anatolia's republic
- IndonesianSoutheast Asian islander's identity
Swahili · Malay · Tagalog · Quechua · Zulu · Yoruba · colonial · missionary
Ornamental handwriting art
- cursiveJoined handwriting style
- handwritingManual letter formation
- printTransfer text to paper
- manuscriptOriginal text before publication
inscription · lettering · penmanship · block letters · copperplate · uncial · minuscule · majuscule
Of ancient Italy's capital
- EtruscanAncient central Italian people
- PhoenicianAncient Lebanese seafarer
- ancient RomeEarly Italian empire city
- epigraphyStudy of ancient inscriptions
lapidary · Trajan's Column · monumental · classical antiquity · scriptio continua · evolution · spread · adoption
grapheme
Minimal written symbol unit
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- diacriticsMarks altering letter pronunciation
transliteration · romanization · digraph · trigraph · transcription · IPA · spelling · pronunciation · literacy · alphabetization
A
Highest academic mark
font
Character style set
- typefaceLettering style design
- serifLetter terminal flourish
- sans-serifType without terminal strokes
glyphs · typesetting · lettering · characters · Helvetica · Times · Arial · Futura · kerning · ligature
romanization
Script-to-alphabet conversion process
- PinyinMandarin transliteration system
- VietnameseOf Southeast Asian nation
- TurkishOf Anatolia's republic
Indonesian · Swahili · Malay · Tagalog · Quechua · Zulu · Yoruba · colonial · missionary · standardization
calligraphy
Ornamental handwriting art
- cursiveJoined handwriting style
- handwritingManual letter formation
- printTransfer text to paper
manuscript · inscription · lettering · penmanship · block letters · copperplate · uncial · minuscule · majuscule · flourish
Roman
Of ancient Italy's capital
- EtruscanAncient central Italian people
- PhoenicianAncient Lebanese seafarer
- ancient RomeEarly Italian empire city
epigraphy · lapidary · Trajan's Column · monumental · classical antiquity · scriptio continua · evolution · spread · adoption
- Roman writingRoman numerals, cursive, uppercase, lowercase, majuscule
- Italic scripts
- Transliterationtransliteration, romanization, latinization, script conversion, pinyin
- lettersa, d, e, h, q
- alphabetsvowels, Hebrew script, uppercase, Arabic script, lowercase
- Latin HeritageRomance languages, Roman Empire, Roman legacy, Spanish, Portuguese
Latin alphabetChinese characters
Logographic writing system
hanzi · kanji · Arabic script · hieroglyphics · Egyptian hieroglyphics
alphabet, Latin, alphabets, alphabetize, alphabetic, alphabetized, alphabetizing