E
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2008-07-13T18:21:20Z
Jumbuck
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robot Modifying: [[uz:E (harf)]]
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{{wiktionarypar2|E|e}}
{{Latin alphabet navbox|uc=E|lc=e}}
'''E''' is the fifth letter in the [[Latin alphabet]]. Its name in [[English language|English]] is spelled '''e''' ({{pronEng|iː}}), plural '''es''' or '''ees''' (also written E's, ''E''s, e's, etc.).<ref>"E" ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993)</ref> The letter ''E'' is the most commonly used letter in the [[Czech language|Czech]],<ref name="Brian Keck UKFSN">{{cite web|url=http://www.bckelk.ukfsn.org/words/etaoin.html|title=Letter frequencies|last=Kelk|first=Brian|publisher=UK Free Software Network|accessdate=2008-06-25}}</ref> [[Danish language|Danish]],<ref name="Brian Keck UKFSN" /> [[Dutch language|Dutch]],<ref name="Brian Keck UKFSN" /> [[English language|English]],<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]]|accessdate=2008-06-25}}</ref> [[French language|French]],<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|accessdate=2008-06-25}}</ref> [[German language|German]],<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|accessdate=2008-06-25}}</ref> [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]],<ref name="Brian Keck UKFSN" /> [[Latin language|Latin]],<ref name="Brian Keck UKFSN" /> [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]],<ref name="Brian Keck UKFSN" /> [[Spanish language|Spanish]],<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|accessdate=2008-06-25}}</ref> and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] languages.<ref name="Brian Keck UKFSN" />
==History==
{| border=1 cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse; cell-border:1px; text-align:center;"
|- style="background-color:#EEEEEE; text-align:center;"
! Egyptian hieroglyph <br>''q’''
! Proto-Semitic <br>H
! Phoenician <br>H
! Etruscan <br>E
! Greek <br>Epsilon
! Roman/Cyrillic <br>E
|- style="background-color:white; text-align:center;"
| <hiero>A28</hiero>
|[[Image:Proto-semiticE-01.png]]
|[[Image:PhoenicianE-01.png]]
|[[Image:Alfabeto_camuno-e.png]]
|[[Image:Epsilon uc lc.svg|64px]]
|[[Image:RomanE-01.png|Roman E]]
|}
'''E''' is derived from the [[Greek alphabet|Greek letter]] [[epsilon]] which is much the same in appearance (Ε, ε) and function. In [[etymology]], the [[Semitic]] ''[[He (letter)|hê]]'' probably first represented a praying or calling human figure (''[[hillul]]'' jubilation), and was probably based on a similar [[Egyptian hieroglyph]] that was pronounced and used quite differently. In Semitic, the letter represented {{IPA|/h/}} (and {{IPA|/e/}} in foreign words), in Greek ''hê'' became Εψιλον (Epsilon) with the value {{IPA|/e/}}. [[Etruria|Etruscan]]s and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] followed this usage. Arising from the [[Great Vowel Shift]], [[English language|English]] usage is rather different, namely {{IPA|/iː/}} (derived from {{IPA|/eː/}} in "me" or "bee") whereas other words like "bed" are closer to Latin and other languages in usage.
==Usage==
Like other Latin [[vowel]]s, E came in a long and a short variety. Originally, the only difference was in length but later on, short e represented {{IPA|/ɛ/}}. In other languages that use the [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] E or e, it represents various other phonetic values, sometimes with accents to indicate contrasts (e ê é è ë ē ĕ ě ẽ ė ẹ ę ẻ).
[[Digraphs]] starting with E are common in many languages to indicate [[diphthong]]s and [[monophthong]]s, such as EA or EE for {{IPA|/iː/}} or {{IPA|/eɪ/}} in English, EI for {{IPA|/aɪ/}} in [[German language|German]], or EU for {{IPA|/ø/}} in [[French language|French]] or {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}} in German.
At the end of a word, E is very often silent in English ([[silent E]]), where old noun [[inflections]] have been dropped, although even when silent at the end of a word it often causes vowels in the word to be pronounced as [[diphthongs]], conventionally called [[Long vowel#Long vowels in English|long vowels]] (compare as a noun ''rat'' and as a verb ''rate'').
The letter 'E' is the most common (or highest [[Frequency (statistics)|frequency]]) letter in the [[English language]] (starting off the typographer's phrase [[ETAOIN SHRDLU]]) and many other related [[languages]], which has implications in both [[cryptography]] and [[data compression]]. This makes it a difficult and popular letter to use when writing [[lipogram]]s. [[Ernest Vincent Wright]]'s ''[[Gadsby (novel)|Gadsby]]'' ([[1939]]), is considered a "dreadful" novel, and that "at least part of Wright's narrative difficulties were caused by language restrictions imposed by the lack of ''E''."<ref>Ross Eckler, ''Making the Alphabet Dance: Recreational Word Play''. New York: St. Martin's Press (1996): 3</ref> Both [[Georges Perec]]'s novel ''[[A Void (novel)|A Void]]'' (''La Disparition'') (1969) and its English translation by Gilbert Adair omit the letter E and are considered better works.<ref>Eckler (1996): 3. Perec's novel "was so well written that at least some reviewers never realized the existence of a letter constraint."</ref>
==Codes for computing==
{{Letter
|NATO=Echo
|Morse=·
|Character=E5
|Braille=⠑
}}
In [[Unicode]] the [[majuscule|capital]] E is codepoint U+0045 and the [[lower case]] e is U+0065.
The [[ASCII]] code for capital E is 69 and for lowercase e is 101; or in [[Binary numeral system|binary]] 01000101 and 01100101, correspondingly.
The [[EBCDIC]] code for capital E is 197 and for lowercase e is 133.
The [[numeric character reference]]s in [[HTML]] and [[XML]] are "<tt>&#69;</tt>" and "<tt>&#101;</tt>" for upper and lower case respectively.
==Sources==
{{reflist}}
==See also==
{{Commons|E}}
Similar Latin letters:
*Ɛɛ : [[Ɛ|Latin epsilon]]
Similar non-Latin letters:
*Εε : [[Epsilon|Greek epsilon]]
*Ее : [[Ye (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic Ye/E]]
*Ёё : [[Yo (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic Yo]]
*Єє : [[Ukrainian Ye]]
*Ээ : [[E (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic backwards E]]
Similar phonetic symbols:
*{{IPA|e}} : [[Close-mid front unrounded vowel]]
*{{IPA|ɛ}} : [[Open-mid front unrounded vowel]]
Special symbols similar to the letter E:
*℮ : [[Estimated sign]] (used on prepackaged goods for sale within the European Union).
*€ : [[Euro sign]]
{{Latin alphabet}}
[[Category:Latin letters]]
[[Category:Vowel letters]]
[[af:E]]
[[als:E]]
[[ar:E]]
[[an:E]]
[[arc:E]]
[[ast:E]]
[[az:E]]
[[bs:E]]
[[br:E (lizherenn)]]
[[bg:E]]
[[ca:E]]
[[cs:E]]
[[co:E]]
[[cy:E]]
[[da:E]]
[[de:E]]
[[el:E]]
[[es:E]]
[[eo:E]]
[[eu:E]]
[[fa:E]]
[[fr:E (lettre)]]
[[fur:E]]
[[gan:E]]
[[gd:E]]
[[gl:E]]
[[ko:E]]
[[hr:E]]
[[ilo:E]]
[[is:E]]
[[it:E]]
[[he:E]]
[[ka:E]]
[[kw:E]]
[[sw:E]]
[[ht:E]]
[[la:E]]
[[lv:E]]
[[lb:E]]
[[lt:E]]
[[hu:E]]
[[mzn:E]]
[[ms:E]]
[[nah:E]]
[[nl:E (letter)]]
[[ja:E]]
[[no:E]]
[[nn:E]]
[[nrm:E]]
[[uz:E (harf)]]
[[nds:E]]
[[pl:E]]
[[pt:E]]
[[crh:E]]
[[ro:E]]
[[qu:E]]
[[ru:E (латиница)]]
[[se:E]]
[[simple:E]]
[[sk:E]]
[[sl:E]]
[[sr:E (слово латинице)]]
[[fi:E]]
[[sv:E]]
[[tl:E]]
[[th:E]]
[[vi:E]]
[[tr:E]]
[[uk:E (латиниця)]]
[[vo:E]]
[[yo:E]]
[[zh-yue:E]]
[[bat-smg:E]]
[[zh:E]]