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{{Short description|12th letter of the Latin alphabet}}{{About|the letter of the alphabet}}{{Distinguish|Ç€|}}{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}

factoids

][{{IPAlinkɮ}}][{{IPAlinkʎ}}][{{IPAlinkw}}][{{IPAlink|ʟ}}]{{IPAc-en|ɛ|l}}|unicode=U+004C, U+006C|alphanumber=12|fam1=U20|fam2=S3920px)20px)20px)20px)Lambda>Λ λ|fam8=𐌋|usageperiod=~−700 to presentɮ{{bull}}Ꝇ ꝇ{{bull}}ℒ ℓ{{bull}}£{{bull}}Ł{{bull}}ᛚ{{bull}}Teuthonista>ꬸ{{bull}}LЛЉӅԮLamedh>לلܠⵍࠋ𐡋ለℓ|equivalents=List of Latin-script digraphs#L>l(x), Lj (digraph), ll, Hungarian ly>ly|direction=Left-to-right|image=File:Latin_letter_L.svg}}{{Latin letter info|l}}L, or l, is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is el (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|ɛ|l}} {{respell|EL}}), plural els."L" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989) Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. (1993); "el", "ells", op. cit.

History{| class"wikitable"

! Egyptian hieroglyph! Phoenicianlamedh! Western GreekLambda! EtruscanL! Latin L-- align=center|S39x25px)x35px)x25px)x30px|Latin L)Lamedh may have come from a pictogram of an ox goad or cattle prod. Some have suggested a shepherd's staff.WEB,weblink Ancient Hebrew Research Center, 12 January 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150103100530weblink">weblink 3 January 2015, dead,

Typographic variants

{{redirect|ℓ|the azimuthal quantum number|Azimuthal quantum number}}In most sans-serif typefaces, the lowercase letter ell {{angbr|l}}, written {{char|{{Sans-serif|l}}}}, may be difficult to distinguish from the uppercase letter "eye" {{angbr|I}}; in some serif typefaces, the glyph {{char|{{Serif|l}}}} may be confused with the glyph {{char|1}}, the digit one. To avoid such confusion, some newer computer fonts (such as Trebuchet MS) have a finial, a curve to the right at the bottom of the lowercase letter ell.Another means of reducing such confusion is to use symbol {{char|ℓ}}, which is a cursive, handwriting-style lowercase form of the letter "ell"; this form is seen in European road signs and advertisements. In Japan, for example, this is the symbol for the liter. (The International Committee for Weights and Measures recommends using {{char|{{serif|L}}}} or {{char|{{serif|l}}}} for the liter, without specifying a typeface.) In Unicode, the cursive form is encoded as {{Unichar|2113|SCRIPT SMALL L}} from the "letter-like symbols" block. Unicode encodes an explicit symbol as {{Unichar|1D4C1|MATHEMATICAL SCRIPT SMALL L}}.The Unicode Standard, Version 15.0, Chapter 22 The TeX syntax ell renders it as ell. In mathematical formulas, an italic form ({{char|ℓ}}) of the script ℓ is the norm. Sometimes seen in Web typography, a serif font for the lowercase letter ell, such as {{char|{{Serif|l}}}}, in otherwise sans-serif text was used.In the blackletter type used in England until the seventeenth century,BOOK, An introduction to the history of printing types; an illustrated summary of main stages in the development of type design from 1440 up to the present day: an aid to type face identification., Dowding, Geoffrey, Wace, 1962, Clerkenwell [London], 5, {{efn|Blackletter persisted in Germany until the early 1940s. See Antiqua–Fraktur dispute}} the letter L is rendered as mathfrak{L}.l}} by language">

Use in writing systems{| class"wikitable mw-collapsible"l}} by language

! Orthography! Phonemes! {{nwr|Standard Chinese}} (Pinyin)l}}! Englishl}}, silent! Frenchl}}, silent! Germanl}}! Portuguesel}}! Spanishl}}! Turkishl}}, {{IPAslink|É«}}

English

In English orthography, {{angbr|l}} usually represents the phoneme {{IPAc-en|l}}, which can have several sound values, depending on the speaker's accent, and whether it occurs before or after a vowel. In Received Pronunciation, the alveolar lateral approximant (the sound represented in IPA by lowercase {{IPA|[l]}}) occurs before a vowel, as in lip or blend, while the velarized alveolar lateral approximant (IPA {{IPA|[É«]}}) occurs in bell and milk. This velarization does not occur in many European languages that use {{angbr|l}}; it is also a factor making the pronunciation of {{angbr|l}} difficult for users of languages that lack {{angbr|l}} or have different values for it, such as Japanese or some southern dialects of Chinese. A medical condition or speech impediment restricting the pronunciation of {{angbr|l}} is known as lambdacism.In English orthography, {{angbr|l}} is often silent in such words as walk or could (though its presence can modify the preceding vowel letter's value), and it is usually silent in such words as palm and psalm; however, there is some regional variation. L is the eleventh most frequently used letter in the English language.

Other languages

{{angbr|l}} usually represents the sound {{IPA|[l]}} or some other lateral consonant.Common digraphs include {{angbr|ll}}, which has a value identical to {{angbr|l}} in English, but has the separate value voiceless alveolar lateral fricative (IPA {{IPA|[ɬ]}}) in Welsh, where it can appear in an initial position. In Spanish, {{angbr|ll}} represents {{IPA|/ʎ/}} ({{IPA|[ʎ]}}, {{IPA|[j]}}, {{IPA|[ʝ]}}, {{IPA|[ɟʝ]}}, or {{IPA|[ʃ]}}, depending on dialect).A palatal lateral approximant or palatal {{angbr|l}} (IPA {{IPA|[ʎ]}}) occurs in many languages, and is represented by {{angbr|gli}} in Italian, {{angbr|ll}} in Spanish and Catalan, {{angbr|lh}} in Portuguese, and {{angbr|ļ}} in Latvian.In Turkish, {{angbr|l}} generally represents {{IPAslink|l}}, but represents {{IPAslink|ɫ}} before {{angbr|a}}, {{angbr|ı}}, {{angbr|o}}, or {{angbr|u}}.In Washo, lower-case {{angbr|l}} represents a typical [l] sound, while upper-case {{angbr|L}} represents a voiceless [l̥] sound, a bit like double {{angbr|ll}} in Welsh.

Other systems

The International Phonetic Alphabet uses {{angbr IPA|l}} to represent the voiced alveolar lateral approximant and a small caps {{angbr IPA|ÊŸ}} to represent the voiced velar lateral approximant.

Other uses

• The capital letter L is used as the currency sign for the Albanian lek and the Honduran lempira. It was often used, especially in handwriting, as the currency sign for the Italian lira. Historically, it was commonly used as a currency sign for the British pound sterling (to abbreviate the Latin , a pound, see £sd); in modern usage it has been overtaken by the pound sign (£), which is based on the blackletter form of the letter. In running text, its lower-case form (usually italicised), l, was more often seen.{{efn|For example, see the Diary of Samuel Pepys for 31{{nbsp}}December 1661: " I suppose myself to be worth about 500l. clear in the world, ..."BOOK, Pepys, Samuel, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 31 December 1661, 31 December 2004,weblink live,weblink 24 November 2021, }}
• The Roman numeral L represents the number 50.BOOK,weblink registration, roman numerals., Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy, University of California Press, 1983, 3 October 2015, Gordon, Arthur E., 44, 9780520038981,
• In the International system of units, the liter (or litre) is abbreviated using an upper-case (or a lower-case) L.WEB,weblink The International System of Units (SI) {{!, The SI brochure, 9th edition, 2019 |access-date=23 July 2023 |date=December 2022 |quote= {{serif|The litre, and the symbol lower-case l, were adopted by the CIPM in 1879 (PV, 1879, 41). The alternative symbol, capital L, was adopted by the 16th CGPM (1979, Resolution 6; CR, 101 and Metrologia, 1980, 16, 56-57) in order to avoid the risk of confusion between the letter l (el) and the numeral 1 (one). }}}}
• In watchmaking, the ligne (a traditional French measure of length still used in the industry) is abbreviated using an upper-case L.WEB, Foire aux questions sur l'horlogerie et les montres, Frequently asked questions about watches and clocks, fr,weblink 2022-01-18, horlogerie-suisse.com, By ancestral tradition, watchmakers do not use the millimeter but the line to designate the casing diameter of a movement, 2022-01-21,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20220121164847weblink">weblink dead,
• In chemistry, L is used as a symbol for the Avogadro constant.H. P. Lehmann, X. Fuentes-Arderiu, and L. F. Bertello (1996): "Glossary of terms in quantities and units in Clinical Chemistry (IUPAC-IFCC Recommendations 1996)"; page 963, item "Avogadro constant". Pure and Applied Chemistry, volume 68, issue 4, pages 957–1000. {{doi|10.1351/pac199668040957}}

Related characters

{{Contains special characters}}

Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

• IPA-specific symbols related to L: {{IPA link|ÊŸ}} {{IPA link|É«}} {{IPA link|ɬ}} {{IPA link|É­}} {{IPA link|ɺ}} {{IPA link|É®}} {{IPA link|ꞎ}} {{IPA link|Ë¡}}
• IPA superscript symbols related to L:WEB, L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic,weblink 2020-11-08, Kirk, Miller, Michael, Ashby, 𐞛 𐞜
• Extensions to IPA for disordered speech (extIPA):WEB, L2/20-116R: Expansion of the extIPA and VoQS,weblink 2020-07-11, Kirk, Miller, Martin, Ball, WEB, L2/21-021: Reference doc numbers for L2/20-266R "Consolidated code chart of proposed phonetic characters" and IPA etc. code point and name changes,weblink 2020-12-07, Deborah, Anderson, 𝼄 𐞝
• Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to L:WEB,weblink L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS, 2002-03-20, Michael, Everson, Michael Everson, etal, {{Unichar|1D0C|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL L WITH STROKE}} and {{Unichar|1D38|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL L}}
• â‚— : Subscript small l was used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902WEB,weblink L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet, 2009-01-27, Klaas, Ruppel, Tero, Aalto, Michael, Everson,
• È´ : L with curl is used in Sino-Tibetanist linguisticsWEB,weblink L2/01-347: Proposal to add six phonetic characters to the UCS, 2001-09-20, Richard, Cook, Michael, Everson,
• Ꞁ ꞁ : Turned L was used by William Pryce to designate the Welsh voiced lateral spirant [ɬ]WEB,weblink L2/06-266: Proposal to add Latin letters and a Greek symbol to the UCS, 2006-08-06, Michael, Everson, The lower case is also used in the Romic alphabet. In Unicode, these are {{unichar|A780|latin capital letter turned l}}, and {{unichar|A781|LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED L}}.
• 𝼦 : Small letter l with mid-height left hook was used by the British and Foreign Bible Society in the early 20th century for romanization of the Malayalam language.WEB, L2/21-156: Unicode request for legacy Malayalam,weblink 2021-07-16, Kirk, Miller, Neil, Rees,
• Other variations are used for phonetic transcription: ᶅWEB,weblink L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS, 2004-04-19, Peter, Constable, ᶩ ᶪ ᶫ 𝼑WEB, L2/20-125R: Unicode request for expected IPA retroflex letters and similar letters with hooks,weblink 2020-07-11, Kirk, Miller, 𝼓
• Ꝇ ꝇ : Broken L was used in some medieval Nordic manuscriptsWEB,weblink L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS, 2006-01-30, Michael, Everson, Peter, Baker, António, Emiliano, Florian, Grammel, Odd Einar, Haugen, Diana, Luft, Susana, Pedro, Gerd, Schumacher, Andreas, Stötzner,
• Teuthonista phonetic transcription-specific symbols related to L:WEB,weblink L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS, 2011-06-02, Michael, Everson, Alois, Dicklberger, Karl, Pentzlin, Eveline, Wandl-Vogt,
  • {{Unichar|AB37|LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH INVERTED LAZY S}}
  • {{Unichar|AB38|LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH DOUBLE MIDDLE TILDE}}
  • {{Unichar|AB39|LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH MIDDLE RING}}
  • {{Unichar|AB5D|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL L WITH INVERTED LAZY S}}
  • {{Unichar|AB5E|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL L WITH MIDDLE TILDE}}
• L with diacritics: Ĺ ĺ Ł Å‚ Ľ ľ Ḹ ḹ L̃ l̃ Ä» ļ Ä¿ Å€ Ḷ ḷ Ḻ ḻ Ḽ ḽ Ƚ Æš â±  ⱡ

Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations

• â„’ â„“ : Script letter L (capital and lowercase, respectively)
• £ : pound sign
• Ꝉ ꝉ : Forms of L were used for medieval scribal abbreviationsWEB,weblink L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS, 2006-01-30, Michael, Everson, Peter, Baker, António, Emiliano, Florian, Grammel, Odd Einar, Haugen, Diana, Luft, Susana, Pedro, Gerd, Schumacher, Andreas, Stötzner,
• Ł or Å‚, "L with stroke" used in Polish and many neighbouring languages

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

• : Semitic letter Lamedh, from which the following symbols originally derive
  • Λ λ : Greek letter Lambda, from which the following letters derive
    • Л л : Cyrillic letter El
    • â²–â²— : Coptic letter Lamda
    • 𐌋 : Old Italic letter L, which is the ancestor of modern Latin L

ᛚ : Runic letter laguz, which might derive from old Italic L

• 𐌻 : Gothic letter laaz

{{anchor|Codes for computing}}

Other representations

Computing

{{charmap 006C FF4C name2 = Latin Small Letter L name4 = FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER LEBCDIC family > map1char1 = D3 | map1char2 = 93ASCII 1 > map2char1 = 4C | map2char2 = 6C}}

Other

{{Letter other reps|NATO=Lima|Morse=·–··|Character=L|Braille=⠇|fingerspelling=L}}{{clear}}

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• {{Commons-inline|L}}
• {{Wiktionary-inline|L}}
• {{Wiktionary-inline|l}}
• {{Wiktionary-inline|â„“}}

{{Latin script|L|}}