In the uncial writing of the 7th century or earlier, the vertical stroke was raised above the line. In Latin cursive of the 6th century, l appears as a rounded form, and this is the parent of the Carolingian form, from which derives the current rounded minuscule or the straight form. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘l.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. In Turkish, ⟨l⟩ generally represents /l/, but represents /ɫ/ before ⟨a⟩, ⟨ı⟩, ⟨o⟩, or ⟨u⟩.
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This is not made like the sound of R by twirling the tip of the tongue but by allowing the air to escape at both sides of the tongue or (as in Welsh) at one side only (written ll, a breathed consonant). In some languages, such as in certain Slavonic languages, the contrast between a back l and a front l is distinctive. This is not the case in English, but in general the English l is pronounced farther back than the l in German and certain other continental languages. An l is never doubled at the beginning of an English word except in a few words of Spanish or Spanish-American origin (e.g., llama) or Welsh origin (e.g., Lloyd). Ancestors of this letter were the Semitic lamedh, which may derive from an earlier symbol representing an ox goad, and the Greek lambda (λ).
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- L is the eleventh most frequently used letter in the English language.
- In Received Pronunciation, the alveolar lateral approximant (the sound represented in IPA by lowercase [l]) occurs before a vowel, as in lip or blend, while the velarized alveolar lateral approximant (IPA [ɫ]) occurs in bell and milk.
- ⟨l⟩ usually represents the sound [l] or some other lateral consonant.
- In English orthography, ⟨l⟩ usually represents the phoneme /l/, which can have several sound values, depending on the speaker’s accent, and whether it occurs before or after a vowel.
- Common digraphs include ⟨ll⟩, which has a value identical to ⟨l⟩ in English, but has the separate value voiceless alveolar lateral fricative (IPA [ɬ]) in Welsh, where it can appear in an initial position.
Common digraphs include ⟨ll⟩, which has a value identical to ⟨l⟩ in English, but has the separate value voiceless alveolar lateral fricative (IPA [ɬ]) in Welsh, where it can appear in an initial position. In Spanish, ⟨ll⟩ represents /ʎ/ ([ʎ], [j], [ʝ], [ɟʝ], or [ʃ], depending on dialect). The ordinal number twelfth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called el and written in the Latin script. The twelfth letter of the English alphabet, called el and written in the Latin script. L is the eleventh most frequently used letter in the English language.
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Other Greek forms were found in early inscriptions from Attica and Corinth. The former was also usual in the Chalcidian alphabet, and the Etruscan form was similar. Thus the Latin and Faliscan alphabets derived their form L with the oblique stroke becoming horizontal. A palatal lateral approximant or palatal ⟨l⟩ (IPA [ʎ]) occurs in many languages, and is represented by ⟨gli⟩ in Italian, ⟨ll⟩ in Spanish and Catalan, ⟨lh⟩ in Portuguese, and ⟨ļ⟩ in Latvian. ⟨l⟩ usually represents the sound [l] or some other lateral consonant.
In English orthography, ⟨l⟩ usually represents the phoneme /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 [l]) occurs before a vowel, as in lip or blend, while the velarized alveolar lateral approximant (IPA [ɫ]) occurs in bell and milk. A medical condition or speech impediment restricting the pronunciation of ⟨l⟩ is known as lambdacism. The International Phonetic Alphabet uses ⟨l⟩ to represent the voiced alveolar lateral approximant and a small cap ⟨ʟ⟩ to represent the voiced velar lateral approximant. The sound consistently represented by the letter throughout its history has been the liquid or “lateral” for which it at present stands.