Ae (digraph)

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Ae is a digraph consisting of the letters A and E that occurs in many languages. In Irish orthography it stands for the vowel [eː] between two velarized consonants, e.g. Gael [g^ɰeːɫ] "a Gael". Originally in Latin it represents the diphthong [ai], which in Vulgar Latin was monophthongized to [ɛ]; in medieval manuscripts the digraph was frequently replaced by the ligature æ. In Modern English, words originally from Latin with ae generally now have [i], e.g. Caesar. In American English spelling, the digraph was shortened to e in most words that had the digraph when Noah Webster introduced spelling reform in the United States in 1806. In German orthography ae is a variant of ä found in some proper names or in contexts where ä is unavailable.

In Dutch it is also an older spelling variant of the aa digraph, but nowadays only occurs in names of people or (less often) in placenames.

v • d • e Latin alphabet
Digraphs	Aa aa Ae ae Ai ai Au au Aw aw Ay ay Bh bh Ch ch Ck ck Cö cö Cs cs Cu cu Cz cz Dd dd Dh dh Dj dj Dx dx Dz dz Dž dž Dź dź Dż dż Ea ea Ee ee Ei ei Eu eu Ew ew Ey ey Ff ff Fh fh Gb gb Gh gh Għ għ Gi gi Gj gj Gn gn Gy gy Hs hs Hu hu Ie ie IJ ij Jö jö Kh kh Kp kp Ku ku Lh lh Lj lj Ll ll Ly ly Mb mb Mh mh Mp mp Nd nd Ng ng Nh nh Nj nj Nk nk Ns ns Nt nt Ny ny Nz nz Oa oa Oe oe Oi oi Oo oo Ou ou Ow ow Oy oy Ph ph Qu qu Rd rd Rh rh Rl rl Rn rn Rr rr Rt rt Rz rz Sh sh Sv sv Sy sy Sz sz Th th Tj tj Tr tr Ts ts Tx tx Ty ty Tz tz Ue ue Ui ui Vh vh Wh wh Xh xh Xö xö Yh yh Yk yk Zh zh Zs zs Zv zv
Trigraphs	C'h c'h Dzs dzs Eau eau Ngb ngb Ngh ngh Ngk ngk Nkp nkp Nth nth Nyk nyk Rnd rnd Sch sch
Tetragraphs	Eeuw eeuw Ieuw ieuw Ough ough