The Italian alphabet is typically considered to consist of 21 letters. The letters j, k, w, x, y are traditionally excluded, though they appear in loanwords such as "jeans", "whisky", "taxi", "xenofobo", "xilofono". The letter has become common in standard Italian with the prefix "extra-", although "(e)stra-" is traditionally used; it is also common to use the Latin particle "ex(-)" to mean "former(ly)" as in: "la mia ex" ("my ex-girlfriend"), "Ex-Jugoslavia" ("Former Yugoslavia"). The letter appears in the first name "Jacopo" and in some Italian place-names, such as Bajardo, Bojano, Joppolo, Jerzu, Jesolo, Jesi, Ajaccio, among others, and in "Mar Jonio", an alternative spelling of "Mar Ionio" (the Ionian Sea). The letter may appear in dialectal words, but its use is discouraged in contemporary standard Italian. Letters used in foreign words can be replaced with phonetically equivalent native Italian letters and digraphs: , , or for ; or for (including in the standard prefix "kilo-"); , or for ; , , , or for ; and or for .