Just as Chinese characters originated from hieroglyphics, each letter in the English alphabet began with pictures depicting the shapes of animals or objects, which eventually evolved into symbols. However, these symbols have little similarity with the shape of the object originally described. No one is sure what these hieroglyphs originally represented. Our explanation can only be an informed guess made by scholars based on historical materials. It is generally believed that Greek letters are the ancestors of all western letters, including Latin letters. In fact, the Greek alphabet was borrowed from the Phoenicians. About 3000 years ago, in the Phoenician alphabet, the letter A was pronounced aleph, which looked like the letter V, with a bar in the middle to represent the bull's head or horn. Later the Greeks wrote backwards. For ancient Phoenicians, cattle meant wealth and were indispensable for food, clothing and farming. This may be the reason why A is listed as the initial letter.

B

Like the letter A, the letter B can be traced back to ancient Phoenicia. In the Phoenician alphabet, b is pronounced beth, which stands for house. In Hebrew, B is also called Beth, which also means house. The letter B originally looked like a two-bedroom apartment in primitive society, and the lowercase letter B later evolved from the uppercase letter B. In today's West Bank, there is a Jewish and Christian holy place called Bethlehem, which still contains Beth elements. B ranks second in the alphabet, perhaps because shelter is second only to food and clothing for human survival. (see a)

C

The letter c is called gimel in Phoenician writing, which stands for camel. Its arrangement in the alphabet is the same as that of the Greek letter γ (gamma). In fact, its glyph evolved from the latter. C stands for 100 in Roman numerals. (see a and g)

D

D is a pictographic symbol, which depicts the shape of an ancient arch or door. In ancient Phoenician and Hebrew, it is called daleth, which means "gate" and is equivalent to the Greek letter δ (delta). (see a)

E

E is the most used letter in English. In Phoenician and Hebrew, e is a pictographic symbol representing a window, called He, which is equivalent to the Greek letter ε(epsilon. (see a)

F

F is the sixth letter of the English alphabet, which is derived from the sixth pictographic letter of Phoenicia. This letter is similar to today's English letter Y, which stands for cork or stud. Its name is waw in Phoenician and Hebrew. In the Middle Ages, the left cheek of a felon was usually marked with an F as a symbol of punishment. (see a, v)

G

In the ancient Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets, G is a hieroglyphic letter describing the outline of camel's head and neck, and its name is gimel. Later, the Greeks borrowed this symbol as gamma. In fact, the letters G and C come from the same Phoenician letter. There is no letter G in the original Latin alphabet, and words with G and K sounds are represented by the letter C. After the third century A.D., the ancient Romans created G according to C. Since then, C stands for K sound and G stands for G sound. (see a and c)

H

Like other letters, H can be traced back to Phoenician letters through Latin letters and Greek letters. In Phoenician, the letter corresponding to H has two horizontal bars, representing fences or fences, and the letters are named heth or cheth. (see a)

I

The ninth letter I in English comes from the Phoenician hieroglyphic letter yod/yodh, which is considered to represent human fingers. At first, the lowercase letter I had no dot, and the dot above I was added after 1 1 century to distinguish the double I hyphen (such as filii) from the letter U. In addition, before19th century, the written or printed forms of I and J were interchangeable, and dictionaries did not treat them as two different letters. For example, in the English dictionary compiled by samuel johnson (1709- 1784), iambic is between jamb and jangle. English I is equivalent to Greek ι (IOTA).

J

The letter J was born in the post-Shakespeare era and is about 1630. Together with V, it is called the youngest letter in the English alphabet. There is neither J nor J in the King James Bible published in 16 1. Just as G is based on C, J is derived from I, that is, a tail is added to I. However, until the19th century, the written or printed forms of I and J were interchangeable, and they were not completely separated. (see a, I)

K

The root of the letter K can also be traced back to the ancient Phoenicians. In the Phoenician alphabet, k is a hieroglyphic symbol, representing the human hand. It is called kaph in Hebrew, which means "hand (palm)". After borrowing from Greek, it becomes κ(kappa. In ancient Rome, a slanderer was marked with a K on his forehead, and K stands for kalumnia, which is equivalent to slander in English. (see a)

L

In Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets, L is called lamed/lamedh, which is a hieroglyphic symbol representing ox drive or whip. The corresponding letter in Greek is ∧(lambda. (see a)

M

Like other letters, m can be traced back to ancient Phoenician. Phoenicians are brave in exploration and are famous for their maritime trade. They sailed all the way to the Spanish coast. M is a pictographic symbol representing the shape of waves in the Phoenician alphabet. It is called mem in Hebrew, which means "water". The corresponding letter in Greek is μ (mu). In the middle ages, anyone who committed the crime of manslaughter often branded the left thumb with the mark of M. M stands for 1000 in Roman numerals (mille in Latin). (see a)

ordinary

The letter N is wavy in Egyptian hieroglyphics, called nun in Phoenician, which means "fish", while the corresponding letter in Greek is nu. (see a, m)

O

Many languages have letters like O, which all represent people's eyes. In some ancient alphabets, a dot is added after O to indicate students. In Phoenician, O is called cayin, which means "eyes", and in old English, O is called oedel, which means "home". (see a)

P

The sixteenth letter P of the English alphabet was called pe by ancient Phoenicians and Hebrews, which means "mouth". The corresponding letter in Greek is ∏(pi). In the 6th century A.D./KLOC-,a Dominican monk named Placentius wrote a poem called Pugna Bockelen, which consisted of 253 lines and six steps. The first letter of every word in the poem is p, which is probably the only one in ancient and modern times. (see a)

Q

The letter q comes from the19th hieroglyphic letter in Phoenician and Hebrew. Q is shaped a bit like a monkey with its tail hanging. No wonder the Phoenicians called the letter qoph, which means "monkey". In English, q is almost always followed by u, which rarely appears at the end of words unless it is a foreign word. (see a)

rare

The18th letter r of the English alphabet evolved from the 20th hieroglyphic letter in Phoenician and Hebrew, which the Phoenicians called resh, meaning "head". Since ancient Roman times, R has been called a dog's letter or a growling letter, because its pronunciation is quite similar to a dog's howling R-R-R or GR-R-R. British playwright and poet ben johnson (1572-1637)1636 wrote in his book English Grammar for the benefit of all strangers: "R is the letter of a dog, with sadness in its voice; In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's nanny and Romeo said that Romeo and rosemary, a flower often associated with weddings, both start with the letter R and are called R dog names. (see a)

S

In Phoenician and Hebrew, s is called shin/sin, which means "tooth". The shape of letters is quite similar to that of today's W, but now the glyphs are gradually evolved after entering Latin. The corresponding letter in Greek is ∑(sigma. (see a)

T

Today's letter T is a variant of Phoenician hieroglyphic letters. Early hieroglyphics, like today's letter X, were called taw, which means "mark". The Greek letter based on this symbol is τ (τ). (see a)

U

The letter U comes from the letter V. For hundreds of years before19th century, these two letters, like I and J, have always been interchangeable and have never been distinguished in English dictionaries. For example, in books published in 16 and 17 centuries, upon is often spelled as vpon, while have is often spelled as haue. Even in 1847, the English dictionary published by Henry washburne Company in London still followed this convention. (see a, v)

V

V is one of the two youngest letters in the English alphabet (the other is J), which appeared after Shakespeare's time, about 1630. But V is also the ancestor of three letters, such as U, W, Y, and even F can be said to be derived from V, which originated from the sixth hieroglyphic letter in the Phoenician alphabet about 1000 BC. It is similar to the English letter Y today and is called waw, meaning "cork" or "wooden nail". After 900 BC, the Greeks borrowed this letter and derived two letters, one of which later evolved into the English letter F and the other into V and Y. Before19th century, the letters V and U were inseparable and interchangeable. In the Roman alphabet, v stands for 5. (participate in a, f, u, w, y)

W

W, like U and Y, is also derived from V. In fact, W is composed of double V, which should be read as double V..w is read as double U, because U and V were inseparable and interchangeable centuries before19th century. V is a symbol of both V and U. Even if it is pronounced as U, it is often written as V. For example, upon is often spelled as vpon. The French letter w is pronounced double v (see a, u, w)

X

The 24th letter X of the English alphabet is equivalent to the 22nd letter χ (chi) of the Greek alphabet. In fact, the former is borrowed from the latter, which comes from a Phoenician hieroglyphic letter representing "fish", which sounds like samekh. X stands for10 in Roman numerals; In algebra and mathematics, x is usually used to represent the unknown. When algebra was introduced into Europe from Arabia, the word shei, which means "unknown" in Arabic, was translated into xei, so the initials X became the common code name of unknown. There is another saying about the origin of the letter X: X was originally a pictographic symbol for kissing, written as χ, which really looks a bit like two mouths kissing. And this explanation may come from folk etymology. (see a)

Y

Y can be said to come from V, and its root can be traced back to υ (upsilon), which is called the letter of Pythagoras in Greek. In algebra, y is often used to represent the second unknown. (see a, v)

Z

Z is pronounced zed in British English, zee in American English, but izzard in old English. Z comes from the sixth letter zeta in Greek, which is borrowed from Phoenicia. Some people may ask, ζ is the sixth letter in Greek, but why is it the 26th and last letter in English? In fact, this is not always the case. When the Romans borrowed zeta from Greek, they thought that Z would be useless, so they removed it. Later, they found that Z was still useful, but at this time Z had lost its original position and had to come to the bottom. In fact, in English, Z is considered useless by many writers. Shakespeare once wrote, "You went whoring! Your unnecessary letter! " (King Lear Part II, Part II) (see A)