{{Short description|Fifth letter of the Latin alphabet}} {{Distinguish|text=the Cyrillic letter Ҽ}} {{About|the letter|the number|e (mathematical constant)|other uses of the symbol '''e''' or '''E'''|E (disambiguation)}} {{Technical reasons|E#|E sharp|E♯}} {{pp-semi-vandalism|small=yes}} {{pp-move|small=yes}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox grapheme |name = E |letter = E e |variations = |script = Latin script |type = Alphabet |typedesc = ic |language = Latinlanguage |phonemes = {{flex list|{{IPAblink|e}}|{{IPAblink|e̞}}|{{IPAblink|ɛ}}|{{IPAblink|æ}}|{{IPAblink|ə}}|{{IPAblink|ɪ}}|{{IPAblink|i}}|{{IPAblink|ɘ}}|{{IPAblink|ɨ}}|{{IPAblink|j}}|{{IPAblink|ɐ}}|{{IPA|[ɐi]}}|{{IPA|[ei]}}|{{IPA|[ɛi]}}}} |unicode=U+0045, U+0065 |alphanumber=5 |number= |fam1=<hiero>A28</hiero> |fam2=class=skin-invert-image|20px|Heh |fam3=𐤄 |fam4=Ε ε ϵ |fam5=𐌄 |usageperiod={{circa}} 700 BCE to present |children={{flex list|Ə|Æ|Œ|€|℮|Ǝ|∈|ℯ|{{not a typo|ℇ}}|ℰ|℥|&}} |sisters={{flex list|Е|Э|Є|Ё|Ә|Һ|ה&nbsp;ه&nbsp;ܗ|Ɛ|Ե ե|Է է|Ը ը|ࠄ|𐎅|Ⲉ}} |equivalents= |associates=ee, e(x), e(x)(y) |direction=Left-to-right |image=File:Latin_letter_E.svg |imageclass=skin-invert-image }} {{Latin letter info|e}}

'''E''' (minuscule: '''e''') is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|iː|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-E.wav}}); plural ''es'', ''Es'', or ''E's''.<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=Oxford Dictionary of English |chapter=E | publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn= 9780199571123 |edition=3rd |date=2010 |quote=''noun (plural Es or E's'')}}</ref>

It is the most commonly used letter in many languages, including Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Latvian, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish.<ref name="Brian Kelk">{{cite web|url=https://www.bckelk.org.uk/words/etaoin.html|title=Letter frequencies|last=Kelk|first=Brian|access-date=2022-02-02|archive-date=2008-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509055951/http://www.bckelk.ukfsn.org/words/etaoin.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html |title=Relative Frequencies of Letters in General English Plain text |last=Lewand |first=Robert |work=Cryptographical Mathematics |publisher=Central College |access-date=2008-06-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708193159/http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html |archive-date=2008-07-08 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqsp.shtml|title=Frequency of Occurrence of Letters in Spanish|publisher=Santa Cruz Public Libraries|access-date=2008-06-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511220207/http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqsp.shtml|archive-date=2008-05-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqfr.shtml|title=Frequency of Occurrence of Letters in French|publisher=Santa Cruz Public Libraries|access-date=2008-06-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312222737/http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqfr.shtml|archive-date=2008-03-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqger.shtml|title=Frequency of Occurrence of Letters in German|publisher=Santa Cruz Public Libraries|access-date=2008-06-25|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120628214132/http://scplweb.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/ltfrqger.shtml|archive-date=2012-06-28}}</ref>

==Name== In English, the name of the letter is the "long E" sound, pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|iː}}. In most other languages, its name matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. thumb|Pronunciation of the name of the letter {{angbr|e}} in European languages|upright=1.5|center|class=skin-invert-image

==History== {| class="wikitable" ! Egyptian hieroglyph<br>''qʼ'' !Proto-Sinaitic !Proto-Canaanite hillul ! Phoenician<br/>He ! Western Greek<br/>Epsilon ! Etruscan<br/>E ! Latin<br/>E |--- align=center | <hiero>A28</hiero> |class=skin-invert-image|40x40px |class=skin-invert-image|40x40px |class=skin-invert-image|40x40px |class=skin-invert-image|55px |class=skin-invert-image|40px |class=skin-invert-image|x30px|Latin E |}

The Latin letter 'E' differs little from its source, the Greek letter epsilon, 'Ε'. This in turn comes from the Semitic letter ''hê'', which has been suggested to have started as a praying or calling human figure (''hillul'', 'jubilation'), and was most likely based on a similar Egyptian hieroglyph that indicated a different pronunciation.

In Semitic, the letter represented {{IPA|/h/}} (and {{IPA|/e/}} in foreign words); in Greek, ''hê'' became the letter epsilon, used to represent {{IPA|/e/}}. The various forms of the Old Italic script and the Latin alphabet followed this usage.

==Use in writing systems== {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible" |+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|e}} by language ! Orthography ! Phonemes |- ! Catalan | {{IPAslink|ə}}, {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|e}} (also {{IPAslink|i}}, {{IPAslink|a}} or ''silent'' dial.) |- ! {{nwr|Standard Chinese (Pinyin)}} | {{IPAslink|ə}} |- ! English | {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|iː}}, {{IPAslink|ə}}, {{IPAslink|ɜː}}, {{IPA|/ɪə/}} |- ! French | {{IPAslink|ə}}, {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|e}} |- ! German | {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|eː}}, {{IPAslink|e}} |- ! Italian | {{IPAslink|e}}, {{IPAslink|ɛ}} |- ! Portuguese | {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|e}}, {{IPAslink|i}}, {{IPAslink|ɨ}}, {{IPAslink|j}}, {{IPAslink|ɐ}}, {{IPA|/ɐj/}} |- ! Spanish | {{IPAslink|e̞|e}} |- ! Turkish | {{IPAslink|e̞|e}} |}

===English=== Although Middle English spelling used {{angbr|e}} to represent long and short {{IPAslink|e}}, the Great Vowel Shift changed long {{IPA|/eː/}} (as in ''me'' or ''bee'') to {{IPA|/iː/}} while short {{IPAslink|ɛ}} (as in ''met'' or ''bed'') remained a mid vowel. In unstressed syllables, this letter is usually pronounced either as {{IPAslink|ɪ}} or {{IPAslink|ə}}. In other cases, the letter is silent, generally at the end of words like ''queue''.

===Other languages=== In the orthography of many languages, it represents either {{IPAblink|e}}, {{IPAblink|e̞}}, {{IPAblink|ɛ}}, or some variation (such as a nasalized version) of these sounds, often with diacritics (as: {{angbr|e ê é è ë ē ĕ ě ẽ ė ẹ ę ẻ}}) to indicate contrasts. Less commonly, as in French, German, or Saanich, {{angbr|e}} represents a mid-central vowel {{IPA|/ə/}}. Digraphs with {{angbr|e}} are common to indicate either diphthongs or monophthongs, such as {{angbr|ea}} or {{angbr|ee}} for {{IPA|/iː/}} or {{IPA|/eɪ/}} in English, {{angbr|ei}} for {{IPA|/aɪ/}} in German, and {{angbr|eu}} for {{IPA|/ø/}} in French or {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}} in German.

===Other systems=== The International Phonetic Alphabet uses {{angbr IPA|e}} for the close-mid front unrounded vowel or the mid front unrounded vowel.

===Frequency=== E is the most common (or highest-frequency) letter in the English language alphabet and several other European languages,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grigas |first1=Gintautas |last2=Juškevičienė |first2=Anita |date=2018-03-26 |title=Letter Frequency Analysis of Languages Using Latin Alphabet |journal=International Linguistics Research |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages= 18|doi=10.30560/ilr.v1n1p18 |issn=2576-2982|doi-access=free }}</ref> which has implications in both cryptography and data compression. This makes it a harder letter to use when writing lipograms.

==Other uses== {{main article|E (disambiguation)}} [[Image:Avogadro's number in e notation.jpg|thumb|A scientific calculator display showing the Avogadro constant ({{val|6.02214076|e=23|u=reciprocal moles}}) in E notation]] * In the hexadecimal (base 16) numbering system, "E" corresponds to the number 14 in decimal (base 10) counting. * "e" is also commonly used to denote Euler's number.

==Related characters== <!-- Please only list characters (symbols in a writing system, but not just convenience code points in Unicode) that are actually related in terms of origin to the letter that is the topic of this article. Characters that merely look subjectively similar need not apply. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources before adding more. -->

===Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet=== * E with diacritics: Ĕ ĕ Ḝ ḝ Ȇ ȇ Ê ê Ê̄ ê̄ Ê̌ ê̌ Ề ề Ế ế Ể ể Ễ ễ Ệ ệ Ẻ ẻ Ḙ ḙ Ě ě Ɇ ɇ Ė ė Ė́ ė́ Ė̃ ė̃ Ẹ ẹ Ë ë È è È̩ è̩ Ȅ ȅ É é É̩ Ē ē Ḕ ḕ Ḗ ḗ Ẽ ẽ Ḛ ḛ Ę ę Ę́ ę́ Ę̃ ę̃ Ȩ ȩ E̩ e̩ ᶒ<ref name="L204132">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2004-04-19|first=Peter|last=Constable|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014355/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> * ⱸ: E with notch is used in the Swedish Dialect Alphabet<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06036-lma-proposal.pdf|title=L2/06-036: Proposal to encode characters for Ordbok över Finlands svenska folkmål in the UCS|date=2006-01-26|first1=Therese|last1=Lemonen|first2=Klaas|last2=Ruppel|first3=Erkki I.|last3=Kolehmainen|first4=Caroline|last4=Sandström|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706090306/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06036-lma-proposal.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> * Æ æ: Latin ''AE'' ligature * Œ œ: Latin ''OE'' ligature * The umlaut diacritic ¨ used above a vowel letter in German and other languages to indicate a fronted or front vowel (this sign originated as a superscript e) * Phonetic alphabet symbols related to E (the International Phonetic Alphabet only uses lowercase, but uppercase forms are used in some other writing systems): ** Ɛ ɛ: Latin letter epsilon / open e, which represents an open-mid front unrounded vowel in the IPA ** ᶓ: Epsilon / open e with retroflex hook<ref name="L204132"/> ** Ɜ ɜ: Latin letter reversed epsilon / open e, which represents an open-mid central unrounded vowel in the IPA ** ɝ: Latin small letter reversed epsilon / open e with hook, which represents a rhotacized open-mid central vowel in the IPA ** ᶔ: Reversed epsilon / open e with retroflex hook<ref name="L204132"/> **ᶟ: Modifier letter small reversed epsilon / open e<ref name="L204132"/> ** ɞ: Latin small letter closed reversed open e, which represents an open-mid central rounded vowel in IPA (shown as ʚ on the 1993 IPA chart) ** 𐞏: Modifier letter small closed reversed open e, which is a superscript IPA letter<ref name="L220252"/> ** Ə ə: Latin letter schwa, which represents a mid central vowel in the IPA ** Ǝ ǝ: Latin letter turned e, which is used in the writing systems of some African languages ** ɘ: Latin letter reversed e, which represents a close-mid central unrounded vowel in the IPA ** 𐞎: Modifier letter small reversed e, which is a superscript IPA letter<ref name="L220252">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730010133/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf |archive-date=2021-07-30 |url-status=live|date=2020-11-08|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Michael|last2=Ashby}}</ref> * The Uralic Phonetic Alphabet uses various forms of e and epsilon / open e:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=2002-03-20|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|author-link1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2018-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219081033/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> **{{Unichar|1D07|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL E}} **{{Unichar|1D08|LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED OPEN E}} **{{Unichar|1D31|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL E}} **{{Unichar|1D32|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL REVERSED E}} **{{Unichar|1D49|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL E}} **{{Unichar|1D4B|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL OPEN E}} **{{Unichar|1D4C|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL TURNED OPEN E}} **{{Unichar|2C7B|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL TURNED E}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06215-n3070.pdf|title=L2/06-215: Proposal for Encoding 3 Additional Characters of the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet|date=2006-04-07|first1=Klaas|last1=Ruppel|first2=Jack|last2=Rueter|first3=Erkki I.|last3=Kolehmainen|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706090340/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06215-n3070.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> *<sub>e</sub>: Subscript small e is used in Indo-European studies<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04191-n2788-laryngeals.pdf|title=L2/04-191: Proposal to encode six Indo-Europeanist phonetic characters in the UCS|date=2004-06-07|first1=Deborah|last1=Anderson|first2=Michael|last2=Everson|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014402/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04191-n2788-laryngeals.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> * Teuthonista phonetic transcription system symbols related to E:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11202-n4081-teuthonista.pdf|title=L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS|date=2011-06-02|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Alois|last2=Dicklberger|first3=Karl|last3=Pentzlin|first4=Eveline|last4=Wandl-Vogt|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011012426/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11202-n4081-teuthonista.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> **{{Unichar|AB32|LATIN SMALL LETTER BLACKLETTER E}} **{{Unichar|AB33|LATIN SMALL LETTER BARRED E}} **{{Unichar|AB34|LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH FLOURISH}}

===Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets=== * 𐤄: Semitic letter He (letter), from which the following symbols originally derive: ** Ε ε: Greek letter Epsilon, from which the following symbols originally derive: *** Е е: Cyrillic letter Ye *** Є є: Ukrainian Ye *** Э э: Cyrillic letter E *** {{Script|Copt|Ⲉ ⲉ}}: Coptic letter Ei *** 𐌄: Old Italic E, which is the ancestor of modern Latin E **** {{Script|Runr|ᛖ}}: Runic letter Ehwaz, which is possibly a descendant of Old Italic E *** {{Script|Goth|𐌴}}: Gothic letter eyz

===Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations=== * €: Euro sign. * ℮: estimated sign (used on prepackaged goods for sale within the European Union). * ''e'': the symbol for the elementary charge (the electric charge carried by a single proton). * ∃: existential quantifier in predicate logic. It is read "there exists ... such that". * ∈: the symbol for set membership in set theory. * 𝑒: the base of the natural logarithm.

==Other representations== ===Computing <span class="anchor" id="Computing codes"></span>=== {{charmap | 0045 | 0065 | name1 = Latin Capital Letter E | name2 = Latin Small Letter E | FF25 | name3 = FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E | FF45 | name4 = FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER E | map1 = EBCDIC family | map1char1 = C5 | map1char2 = 85 | map2 = ASCII{{efn|Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.}} | map2char1 = 45 | map2char2 = 65 }}

===Other=== {{Letter other reps |NATO=Echo |Morse=· |Character=E5 |Braille=⠑ |fingerspelling=E }} In British Sign Language (BSL), the letter 'e' is signed by extending the index finger of the right hand touching the tip of index on the left hand, with all fingers of left hand open.

==See also== * E notation: used by scientific calculators to indicate a power of ten multiplier * {{anli|E-number}}

{{clear}}

==Notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Commons-inline}} *{{Wiktionary-inline|E}} *{{Wiktionary-inline|e}}

{{Latin script|E|}}

Category:ISO basic Latin letters Category:Vowel letters