The Letter L

The letter L has a history in the Egyptian hieroglyphs. It may have come from Lamedh, which was commonly depicted as a cattle prod or a shepherd’s staff.

There are different sounds to the letter L, depending on where it appears in a word. This most common differing sounds depend on whether the letter is following a vowel or not. It is very difficult for many people to hear the different sounds straight away unless you really listen and think about what you are saying.

There are some people who struggle to say the letter L. This is common with those who has lisps and also some from other countries, especially the Asian countries. For the Japanese or some Chinese people, the L will sound like an R or even a W. This differs with dialects and also depends on the words that are being said and the position of the L. For example, Lonely may sound like Wone-ry.

When writing the letter L out, there are two options – one of the lower case and one of the upper case. The lower case L is usually just a straight line and is sometimes depicted with a small curl at the bottom. The capital L is a vertical line with a horizontal line at the bottom.

With some type-scripts, the small case L can be confused with an upper case I. This is something that many people need to work on to tell the difference form. There are also times that the lower case L will be mistaken for a number 1 or even for a vertical line.

There are times when the L is a silent letter in English words. For example, nobody pronounces the L in words such as could and should. Of course, without the letter there are chances that the words will be pronounced differently.

The letter L is used to denote the currency Lek from Albania and the Lempira from Honduran. There are also times that the L will be used as a way to denote the pound sign.

Because L is a common letter in the English alphabet, it is only worth one point in a game of scrabble so it is not usually worth using on a bonus tile. There are four letter in a game of scrabble so you are likely to come across as least one of them.