An 

alphabet is a set of letters or symbols that we use to represent the basic speech
sounds of a language in writing.

This page looks at writing the English alphabet. You can read about pronouncing
the English alphabet here.

The English word "alphabet" comes from the Latin word "alphabetum". The Latin
word "alphabetum" came from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, "alpha" and
"beta".

Letters of the English Alphabet

The English alphabet has 26 letters, starting with a and ending with z. Below you see
the whole alphabet.

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
 z
Small and Large Letters
We can write each letter of the English alphabet as a "small letter" (abc) or as a "large
letter" (ABC). Large letters are also called "capital letters" or "capitals".

Below you see the whole alphabet with small letters on the left and capitals on the
right:

a A
b B
c C
d D
e E
f F
g G
h H
i I
j J
k K
 l L
m M
n N
o O
p P
q Q
r R
s S
t T
u U
v V
w W
x X
y Y
z Z
In informal English, we sometimes call capitals just "caps".
Small letters are sometimes called "lower case" and large letters "upper case". This is
because in the old days of printing, before computers, the metal blocks for setting type
were kept in two different boxes or "cases": small letters in the bottom or lower case,
large letters in the top or upper case.

Font Styles
Printed letters of the alphabet come in different styles or designs. Each style is called a
"font". This page shows all 26 characters, as small and large letters, in 5 different
styles. Each column displays a different font style, in this order:

1. Serif: with serifs, or little projections, at the end of most strokes

2. Fixed-width: like old typewriter lettering - each letter is about the same width,
so "i" takes up the same space as "w"
3. Sans-serif: with no serifs
4. Cursive: like handwriting
5. Fantasy: fancy, artistic
Alphabetical Order
The English alphabet starts with the letter a and finishes with the letter z. We always
write the alphabet in the same order:

a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p-q-r-s-t-u-v-w-x-y-z

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

This order is called "alphabetical order". We often write lists in alphabetical order. For
example, to write a list of countries in alphabetical order, we start with countries that
begin with the letter A, then with countries that begin with B, and so on. For example:

 Australia
 Brazil
 Canada

If more than one word begins with the letter A, we put them in order based on the
second letter, and then the third letter, and so on:

 Algeria
 Argentina
 Belgium
 Benin
 Bermuda

We use alphabetical order for many things, for example:

 dictionaries
 indexes of books
 telephone directories