H (letter)

H is the third letter of the Latin alphabet. It has two forms: capital H and lowercase h. In many languages it represents a fricative sound produced in the throat or mouth, similar to the sound of the letter "h" in Somali.

The use of H varies greatly among languages. In some it represents a distinct sound, while in others it is a silent letter written but not pronounced. H is also frequently combined with other letters to represent new sounds, such as in ch, sh, th, ph, and gh.

History

H originates from the Phoenician letters, where a sign called heth represented a throat sound. The Greeks derived the letter eta from this sign. Initially the Greeks used it for a vowel sound, but some dialects shifted it to a longer value. The Romans adopted the earlier form representing the fricative sound, which is why H appears in the Latin alphabet.

Sound in languages

In English, H is usually pronounced at the beginning of a word (for example: house), though in some words it is silent (for example: hour). In French, H is never pronounced, but two types are distinguished that affect how nearby words connect. In Italian, H is also not pronounced; it serves as a written marker that modifies the sound of the letters c and g. In Turkish, H has a distinct and consistent fricative sound. In Arabic, the Latin letter H is often used in transliteration to represent the letters ه and ح when writing Arabic in Latin script.

Use in symbols

H is used in various scientific and technical symbols. In chemistry, H is the symbol for hydrogen. In mathematics and physics, the letter H and its variants are used to denote specific quantities and mathematical operations. H is also among the letters used to denote certain codes and classifications in industrial settings.