View source for T

{{Short description|20th letter of the Latin alphabet}}
{{About|the letter of the Latin alphabet|the same [[letterform]] in the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets|Te (Cyrillic)|and|Tau|other uses}}{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}{{Distinguish|text=[[ㅜ]], [[Tea]], [[Tee]], or various [[box-drawing character]]s}}
{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{Infobox grapheme
|name = T
|letter = T t
|script=[[Latin script]]
|type=[[Alphabet]]
|typedesc=ic and [[logographic]]
|language=[[Latin language]]
|phonemes={{grid list|[{{IPAlink|t}}]|[{{IPAlink|ʈ}}]|[{{IPAlink|tʰ}}]|[{{IPAlink|tʼ}}]|[{{IPAlink|d}}]|[{{IPAlink|ð}}]|[{{IPAlink|t̪}}]|[{{IPAlink|t͡ʃ}}]|[{{IPAlink|ɾ}}]|[{{IPAlink|ʔ}}]|{{IPAc-en|t|iː}}}}
|unicode=U+0054, U+0074
|alphanumber=20
|number=
|fam1=<hiero>Z9</hiero>
|fam2=[[File:Proto-semiticT-01.svg|20px|Proto-Sinaitic Taw]]
|fam3=[[File:Prototaw.svg|20px]]
|fam4=[[File:Phoenician_taw.svg|20px|Phoenician Taw]]
|fam5=[[𐤕‬]]
|fam6=[[Tau|Ττ]]
|fam7=[[𐌕]]
|usageperiod=~−700 to present
|children={{grid list|[[Th (digraph)]]|[[™]]|[[₮]]|[[₸]]|[[Ŧ]]|[[Ť]]|[[Ţ]]|[[Ʇ]]}}
|sisters={{grid list|[[𐍄]]|[[Т]]|[[Ҭ]]|[[Ћ]]|[[Ҵ]]|[[Taw|ת]]|[[Taw|ت]]|[[Taw|ܬ]]|[[ة]]|[[ࠕ]]|[[𐎚]]|[[𐎙]]|[[ተ]]|[[ፐ]]|[[Տ|Տ տ]]|[[wikt:Ց|Ց]] [[wikt:ց|ց]]|[[त]]|[[ट]]|[[ત]]|[[ટ]]|[[ⶊ]]}}
|equivalents=
|associates=[[List of Latin-script digraphs#T|t(x)]], [[Th (digraph)|th]], [[tzsch]]
|direction=Left-to-right
|image=File:Latin_letter_T.svg}}
{{special characters|Unicode}}
{{Latin letter info|t}}

'''T''', or '''t''', is the twentieth [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Latin alphabet]], used in the [[English alphabet|modern English alphabet]], the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is [[English alphabet#Letter names|''tee'']] (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|t|iː}}), plural ''tees''.<ref>"T", ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition (1989); ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993); "tee", ''op. cit''.</ref>

It is derived from the Semitic [[Taw]] 𐤕 of the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] and [[Paleo-Hebrew]] script ([[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] and [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] Taw ת/𐡕/[[File:Taw.svg| 10 px]], [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] Taw ܬ, and [[Arabic script|Arabic]] ت [[Tāʼ]]) via the Greek letter [[tau|τ]] ([[tau]]). In English, it is most commonly used to represent the [[voiceless alveolar plosive]], a sound it also denotes in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]. It is the most commonly used [[consonant]] and the second-most commonly used letter in English-language texts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html |title=Relative Frequencies of Letters in General English Plain text |last=Lewand |first=Robert |work=Cryptographical Mathematics |publisher=[[Central College (Pella, Iowa)|Central College]] |access-date=2008-06-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708193159/http://pages.central.edu/emp/LintonT/classes/spring01/cryptography/letterfreq.html |archive-date=2008-07-08 }}</ref>

==History==
{| class="wikitable"
! Phoenician<br/>[[Taw]]
! Western Greek<br/>[[Tau]]
! Etruscan<br>T
! Latin<br/>T
|---align=center
| [[File:Phoenician taw.svg|30px]]
| [[File:Greek Tau normal.svg|45px]]
| [[File:EtruscanT-01.svg|30px]]
| [[File:Capitalis monumentalis T.SVG|x30px]]
|}
''[[Taw]]'' was the last letter of the Western [[Semitic alphabets|Semitic]] and [[Hebrew alphabet]]s. The sound value of Semitic ''Taw'', the [[Greek alphabet]] Tαυ (''Tau''), [[Old Italic alphabet|Old Italic]] and Latin T has remained fairly constant, representing {{IPAblink|t}} in each of these, and it has also kept its original basic shape in most of these alphabets.

==Use in writing systems==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|t}} by language
! Orthography
! Phonemes
|-
! {{nwr|[[Standard Chinese]]}} ([[Pinyin]])
|{{IPAslink|tʰ}}
|-
! [[English orthography|English]]
|{{IPAslink|t}}, silent
|-
! [[French orthography|French]]
|{{IPAslink|t}}, silent
|-
! [[German orthography|German]]
|{{IPAslink|t}}
|-
! [[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]]
|{{IPAslink|t}}
|-
! [[Spanish orthography|Spanish]]
|{{IPAslink|t}}
|-
! [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]]
| {{IPAslink|t}}
|}

===English===
In English, {{angbr|t}} usually denotes the [[voiceless alveolar plosive]] ([[help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]] and [[X-SAMPA]]: {{IPAslink|t}}), as in ''tart'', ''tee'', or ''ties'', often with [[Aspirated consonant|aspiration]] at the beginnings of words or before [[Stress (linguistics)|stressed]] vowels. The letter {{angbr|t}} corresponds to the affricate {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} in some words as a result of [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters#Yod-coalescence|yod-coalescence]] (for example, in words ending in -"ture", such as ''future'').

A common [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]] is {{angbr|th}}, which usually represents a [[dental fricative]], but occasionally represents {{IPA|/t/}} (as in ''Thomas'' and ''thyme''). The digraph {{angbr|ti}} often corresponds to the sound {{IPA|/ʃ/}} (a [[voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant]]) word-medially when followed by a vowel, as in ''nation'', ''ratio'', ''negotiation'', and ''Croatia''.

In a few words of modern French origin, the letter T is silent at the end of a word; these include ''croquet'' and ''debut''.

===Other languages===
In the [[orthographies]] of other languages, {{angbr|t}} is often used for {{IPA|/t/}}, the [[voiceless dental plosive]] {{IPA|/t̪/}}, or similar sounds.

===Other systems===
In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], {{angbr IPA|t}} denotes the [[voiceless alveolar plosive]].

== Other uses ==
{{main article|T (disambiguation)}}
* [[Unit prefix]] T, meaning 1,000,000,000,000 times.

==Related characters==
<!-- Please only list characters (symbols in a writing system, but not just convenience code points in Unicode) that are actually related in terms of origin to the letter that is the topic of this article. Characters that merely look subjectively similar need not apply. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources before adding more. -->

===Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet===
[[File:Teisko.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|A curly T pictured in the coat of arms of the former [[Teisko]] municipality, which was consolidated to [[Tampere]].]]
*T with [[diacritic]]s: [[Ť|Ť ť]] [[Dot (diacritic)|Ṫ ṫ]] [[ẗ]] [[Ţ|Ţ ţ]] [[Ṭ|Ṭ ṭ]] [[Ʈ|Ʈ ʈ]] [[Ț|Ț ț]] [[ƫ]] [[Circumflex|Ṱ ṱ]] [[Macron below|Ṯ ṯ]] [[Ŧ|Ŧ ŧ]] [[Ⱦ|Ⱦ ⱦ]] [[Ƭ|Ƭ ƭ]] [[ᵵ]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf|title=L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS|date=2003-09-30|first=Peter|last=Constable|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011013938/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[ᶵ]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2004-04-19|first=Peter|last=Constable|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014355/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Ꞇ ꞇ : [[Insular script|Insular]] T,{{efn|Unicode treats representation of letters of the [[Latin alphabet]] written in [[insular script]] as a typeface choice that needs no separate coding. {{unichar|A786|Latin capital letter insular T}} and {{unichar|A787|Latin small letter insular T}} are provided for use by phonetics specialists.<ref name=Insular />}} also used by [[William Pryce]] to designate the [[voiceless dental fricative]] [θ]<ref name=Insular>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06266-n3122-insular.pdf|title=L2/06-266: Proposal to add Latin letters and a Greek symbol to the UCS|date=2006-08-06|first=Michael|last=Everson|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2013-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819182322/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06266-n3122-insular.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*ᫎ : Combining small insular t was used in the [[Ormulum]]<ref name="L220268">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-268: Revised proposal to add ten characters for Middle English to the UCS|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20268-n5145-ormulum.pdf|date=2020-10-05|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Andrew|last2=West|access-date=2022-10-13|archive-date=2020-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024033958/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20268-n5145-ormulum.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
* {{IPA link|ʇ}} : Turned small t is used in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA)
*𐞯 : Modifier letter small t with retroflex hook is a [[International Phonetic Alphabet#Superscript IPA|superscript IPA letter]]<ref name="L220252">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf|date=2020-11-08|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Michael|last2=Ashby|access-date=2022-10-13|archive-date=2021-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730010133/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*𝼉 : Latin small letter t with hook and retroflex hook is a symbol for a [[voiceless retroflex implosive]]<ref name="L220125">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-125R: Unicode request for expected IPA retroflex letters and similar letters with hooks|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20125r-ipa-retroflex.pdf|date=2020-07-11|first=Kirk|last=Miller|access-date=2022-10-13|archive-date=2022-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008020733/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20125r-ipa-retroflex.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="L221021">{{Cite web|title=L2/21-021: Reference doc numbers for L2/20-266R "Consolidated code chart of proposed phonetic characters" and IPA etc. code point and name changes|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21021-consolidated-ipa.pdf|date=2020-12-07|first=Deborah|last=Anderson|access-date=2022-10-13|archive-date=2021-01-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108092102/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21021-consolidated-ipa.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*𝼍 : Latin small turned t with curl is a [[click letter]]<ref name="L220115">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-115R: Unicode request for additional phonetic click letters|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20115r-click-letters.pdf|date=2020-07-10|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Bonny|last2=Sands|access-date=2022-10-13|archive-date=2022-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221008020935/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20115r-click-letters.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="L221021" />
*[[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]]-specific symbols related to T:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=2002-03-20|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|author-link1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2018-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219081033/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
**{{Unichar|1D1B|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL T}}
**{{Unichar|1D40|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL T}}
**{{Unichar|1D57|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL T}}
**{{Unichar|1E97|LATIN SMALL LETTER T WITH DIAERESIS|nlink=T-diaeresis}}
*ₜ : Subscript small t was used in the [[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]] prior to its formal standardization in 1902<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09028-n3571-upa-additions.pdf|title=L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet|date=2009-01-27|first1=Klaas|last1=Ruppel|first2=Tero|last2=Aalto|first3=Michael|last3=Everson|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014359/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09028-n3571-upa-additions.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[ȶ]] : T with curl is used in Sino-Tibetanist linguistics<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2001/01347-n2366r.pdf|title=L2/01-347: Proposal to add six phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2001-09-20|first1=Richard|last1=Cook|first2=Michael|last2=Everson|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014401/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2001/01347-n2366r.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Ʇ ʇ : Turned capital T and turned small t were used in transcriptions of the [[Dakota language]] in publications of the American Board of Ethnology in the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12270-n4297-beta-etc.pdf|title=L2/12-270: Proposal for the addition of ten Latin characters to the UCS|date=2012-07-26|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Denis|last2=Jacquerye|first3=Chris|last3=Lilley|author-link3=Chris Lilley (computer scientist)|access-date=2018-03-24|archive-date=2019-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330042809/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12270-n4297-beta-etc.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
*𝼪 : Small t with mid-height left hook was used by the [[British and Foreign Bible Society]] in the early 20th century for [[romanization]] of the [[Malayalam]] language.<ref name="L221156">{{Cite web|title=L2/21-156: Unicode request for legacy Malayalam|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21156-legacy-malayalam.pdf|date=2021-07-16|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Neil|last2=Rees|access-date=2022-10-13|archive-date=2021-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907191404/https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21156-legacy-malayalam.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets===
*𐤕 : [[Phoenician alphabet|Semitic]] letter [[Taw]], from which the following symbols originally derive:
**Τ τ : [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] letter [[Tau]]
***{{Script|Copt|Ⲧ ⲧ}} : [[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]] letter Taw, which derives from Greek Tau
***Т т : [[Cyrillic]] letter [[Te (Cyrillic)|Te]], also derived from Tau
***{{Script|Goth|𐍄}} : [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]] letter tius, which derives from Greek Tau
***𐌕 : [[Old Italic script|Old Italic]] T, which derives from Greek Tau, and is the ancestor of modern Latin T
****{{Script|Runr|ᛏ}} : [[Runes|Runic]] letter [[Tiwaz rune|teiwaz]], which probably derives from old Italic T
*ፐ : One of the  26 consonantal letters of the [[Ge'ez script]]. The Ge'ez [[abugida]] developed under the influence of Christian scripture by adding obligatory vocalic diacritics to the consonantal letters. Pesa ፐ is based on Tawe [[ተ]].

===Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations===
*™ : [[Trademark symbol]]
*₮ : [[Mongolian tögrög]]
*₸ : [[Kazakhstani tenge]]
*৳ : [[Bangladeshi taka]]

{{anchor|Codes for computing}}

==Other representations==
===Computing <span class="anchor" id="Computing codes"></span>===
{{charmap
| 0054 | 0074 | FF34 | FF54 | name1 = Latin Capital Letter T | name2 = Latin Small Letter T | name3 = FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T | name4 = FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER T
| map1 = [[EBCDIC]] family | map1char1 = E3 | map1char2 = A3
| map2 = [[ASCII]]{{efn|Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.}} | map2char1 = 54 | map2char2 = 74
}}

===Other===
{{Letter other reps
|NATO=Tango
|Morse=–
|Character=T
|Braille=⠞
|fingerspelling=T
}}

{{gallery
|height = 120
|File:German Sign Language letter T.svg
|The letter T in [[German Sign Language]]}}
{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons-inline|T}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|T}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|t}}

{{Latin alphabet|T|}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:ISO basic Latin letters]]
[[Category:Cross symbols]]