Search results
The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.
The Classical Latin alphabet consisted of 23 letters, 21 of which were derived from the Etruscan alphabet. In medieval times the letter I was differentiated into I and J and V into U, V, and W, producing an alphabet equivalent to that of modern English with 26 letters.
Upper CaseLower CaseAaBbCcDd- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Learn about the origin, evolution and variations of the Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet. Find out how to type accented letters, ligatures and other special characters in different languages.
The Latin script is the basis of the International Phonetic Alphabet, and the 26 most widespread letters are the letters contained in the ISO basic Latin alphabet, which are the same letters as the English alphabet.
Learn about the origins, development and features of Latin, the ancient language of Rome and the Roman Empire. Find out how the Latin alphabet evolved and how to pronounce Classical and Ecclesiastical Latin.
Learn about the history, encoding, and properties of the Latin-script alphabet, which uses letters of the Latin script. Compare the letter inventory, grapheme order, diacritics, ligatures, and sound values of different languages and alphabets derived from Latin script.
The Classical Latin alphabet developed by the 3rd century BC. The version shown below was used for monumental inscriptions, and is known as Roman Square Capitals (capitalis quadrata) or Elegant Capitals (capitalis elegans).
