Editing E

{{short description|5th letter of the Latin alphabet}}
{{distinguish|text=the [[Ҽ|Cyrillic letter Ҽ]]}}
{{about|the letter|the number|e (mathematical constant)|other uses of the symbol '''e''' or '''E'''|E (disambiguation)}}{{pp-move-indef}}
{{Technical reasons|E#|E sharp|E♯}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{pp-semi-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{pp-move|small=yes}}
{{Infobox grapheme
|name = E
|letter = E e
|variations =
|script = [[Latin script]]
|type = [[Alphabet]]
|typedesc = ic
|language = [[Latin language]]
|phonemes = {{flex list|[{{IPAlink|e}}]|[{{IPAlink|e̞}}]|[{{IPAlink|ɛ}}]|[{{IPAlink|ə}}]|[{{IPAlink|ɪ}}~{{IPAlink|i}}]|[{{IPAlink|ɘ}}]|[{{IPAlink|ʲ|ʲe}}]|[{{IPAlink|h}}]|([[E#English|English variations]])}}
|unicode=U+0045, U+0065
|alphanumber=5
|number= 
|fam1=<hiero>A28</hiero>
|fam2=[[Image:Proto-semiticE-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Heh]]
|fam3=[[File:Protohe.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|He]]
|fam4=[[File:PhoenicianE-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Phoenician He]]
|fam5=[[Image:phoenician he.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|He]]
|fam6=[[Epsilon|Ε ε ϵ]]
|fam7=[[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]]|[[He (letter)|ה&nbsp;ه&nbsp;ܗ]]|[[Ɛ]]|[[wikt:Ե|Ե]] [[wikt:ե|ե]]|[[wikt:Է|Է]] [[wikt:է|է]]|[[wikt:Ը|Ը]] [[wikt:ը|ը]]|[[ࠄ]]|[[𐎅]]|[[Ⲉ]]}}
|equivalents=
|associates=[[English alphabet|ee]], [[List of Latin-script digraphs#E|e(x)]], [[List of Latin-script trigraphs#E|e(x)(y)]]
|direction=Left-to-right
|image=File:Latin_letter_E.svg
|imageclass=skin-invert-image
}}
{{Latin letter info|e}}

'''E''', or '''e''', is the fifth [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] and the second [[vowel#Written vowels|vowel letter]] of the [[Latin alphabet]], used in the [[English alphabet|modern English alphabet]], the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is [[English alphabet#Letter names|''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 language|Czech]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Latin language|Latin]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and [[Swedish language|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 (Iowa)|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 syllable]]s.
[[File:Pronunciation of the name of the letter ⟨e⟩ in European languages.png|thumb|Pronunciation of the name of the letter {{angbr|e}} in European languages|305x305px|center]]

==History==
{| class="wikitable"
! Egyptian hieroglyph<br>''qʼ''
!Proto-Sinaitic
!Proto-Canaanite hillul
! Phoenician<br/>[[he (letter)|He]]
! Western Greek<br/>[[Epsilon]]
! Etruscan<br/>E
! Latin<br/>E
|--- align=center
| <hiero>A28</hiero>
|[[Image:Proto-semiticE-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|40x40px]]
|[[File:Protohe.svg|class=skin-invert-image|40x40px]]
|[[File:PhoenicianE-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|40x40px]]
|[[File:Greek Epsilon archaic.svg|class=skin-invert-image|55px]]
|[[File:Alfabeto camuno-e.svg|class=skin-invert-image|40px]]
|[[File:Capitalis monumentalis E.svg|class=skin-invert-image|x30px|Latin E]]
|}

The Latin letter 'E' differs little from its source, the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] letter [[epsilon]], 'Ε'. This in turn comes from the [[Semitic alphabet|Semitic]] letter ''[[He (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
|-
! {{nwr|[[Standard Chinese]]}} ([[Pinyin]])
| {{IPAslink|ə}}
|-
! [[English orthography|English]]
| {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|iː}}, {{IPAslink|ə}}, {{IPAslink|ɜː}}, {{IPA|/ɪə/}}
|-
! [[French orthography|French]]
| {{IPAslink|ə}}, {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|e}}
|-
! [[German orthography|German]]
| {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|eː}}, {{IPAslink|e}}
|-
! [[Italian orthography|Italian]] 
| {{IPAslink|e}}, {{IPAslink|ɛ}}
|-
! [[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]] 
| {{IPAslink|e}}, {{IPAslink|ɛ}}, {{IPAslink|i}}, {{IPAslink|ɨ}}, {{IPAslink|j}}, {{IPAslink|ɐ}}, {{IPA|/ɐi/}}
|-
! [[Spanish orthography|Spanish]]
| {{IPAslink|e}}
|-
! [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]]
| {{IPAslink|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 e|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 [[Nasal vowel|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 dialect|Saanich]], {{angbr|e}} represents a [[mid-central vowel]] {{IPA|/ə/}}. [[Digraph (orthography)|Digraphs]] with {{angbr|e}} are common to indicate either [[diphthong]]s or [[monophthong]]s, such as {{angbr|ea}} or {{angbr|ee}} for {{IPA|/iː/}} or {{IPA|/eɪ/}} in English, {{angbr|ei}} for {{IPA|/aɪ/}} in [[German language|German]], and {{angbr|eu}} for {{IPA|/ø/}} in [[French language|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 (statistics)|frequency]]) letter in the English language alphabet and several other [[Languages of Europe|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 [[lipogram]]s.

==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 [[mole (unit)|moles]]}}) in [[Scientific notation|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 [[diacritic]]s: [[Breve|Ĕ ĕ]] [[Ḝ|Ḝ ḝ]] [[Ȇ|Ȇ ȇ]] [[Ê|Ê ê]] [[Ê̄|Ê̄ ê̄]] [[Ê̌|Ê̌ ê̌]] [[Ề|Ề ề]] [[Ế|Ế ế]] [[Ể|Ể ể]] [[Ễ|Ễ ễ]] [[Ệ|Ệ ệ]] [[Ẻ|Ẻ ẻ]] [[Ḙ|Ḙ ḙ]] [[Caron|Ě ě]] [[E with stroke|Ɇ ɇ]] [[Ė|Ė ė]] Ė́ ė́ Ė̃ ė̃ [[Dot (diacritic)|Ẹ ẹ]] [[Ë|Ë ë]] [[È|È è]] È̩ è̩ [[Ȅ|Ȅ ȅ]] [[É|É é]] É̩ [[Macron (diacritic)|Ē ē]] [[Ḕ|Ḕ ḕ]] [[Ḗ|Ḗ ḗ]] [[Ẽ|Ẽ ẽ]] [[Ḛ|Ḛ ḛ]] [[Ę|Ę ę]] [[Ę́|Ę́ ę́]] Ę̃ ę̃ [[Ȩ|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: [[Æ|Latin ''AE'']] ligature
* Œ œ: [[Œ|Latin ''OE'']] ligature
* The [[Umlaut (diacritic)|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 transcription#Alphabetic|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: [[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 [[R-colored vowel|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 [[History of the International Phonetic Alphabet#1993 revision|1993 IPA chart]])
** 𐞏: Modifier letter small closed reversed open e, which is a [[International Phonetic Alphabet#Superscript IPA|superscript IPA]] letter<ref name="L220252"/>
** Ə ə: Latin letter [[Ə|schwa]], which represents a [[mid central vowel]] in the IPA
** Ǝ ǝ: Latin letter [[ǝ|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 [[International Phonetic Alphabet#Superscript IPA|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: [[Phoenician alphabet|Semitic]] letter [[He (letter)]], from which the following symbols originally derive:
** Ε ε: [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] letter [[Epsilon (letter)|Epsilon]], from which the following symbols originally derive:
*** Е е: [[Cyrillic]] letter [[Ye (Cyrillic)|Ye]]
*** Є є: [[Ukrainian Ye]]
*** Э э: Cyrillic letter [[E (Cyrillic)|E]]
*** {{Script|Copt|Ⲉ ⲉ}}: [[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]] letter Ei
*** 𐌄: [[Old Italic script|Old Italic]] E, which is the ancestor of modern Latin E
**** {{Script|Runr|ᛖ}}: [[Runes|Runic]] letter [[Ehwaz]], which is possibly a descendant of Old Italic E
*** {{Script|Goth|𐌴}}: [[Gothic alphabet|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 [[e (mathematical constant)|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==
* [[Scientific notation#E notation|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]]