English
e
E comes from Latin ē.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English e
Lineage
The story
The letter name is ultimately from Latin ē. Use of the Latin letter in (Old) English displaced, in whole or in part, five futhorc letters in the 7th century: ᛖ (e), ᚫ (æ), ᛠ (ea), ᛇ (eo), and ᛟ (œ).
Every English word from Latin ē
Today it means
character The fifth letter of the English alphabet, called e and written in the Latin script.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “e”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin ē / e