Letter (alphabet)
Definition and usage
A letter is a type of grapheme, which is a contrastive unit in a writing system. The contemporary English-language alphabet consists of twenty-six letters, each of which corresponds to one or more sounds. Letters are combined to form words. A letter is classified as either a consonant or a vowel, depending on how its sound is produced (vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y and w— with y and w only sometimes classed as vowels[clarification needed]). The basic Roman alphabet is used by hundreds of languages around the world.
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