English word origin

Etymology of e

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).

4 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗

In this entry · 4 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1 · variant 1/2

Original entry ↗

noun

The name of the Latin script letter E/e.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Derivation mentionēla

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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    {
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ē"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ē"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "ē",
      "e#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "futhorc",
      "futhorc"
    ],
    [
      "ᛖ",
      "ᛖ#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ᚫ",
      "ᚫ#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ᛠ",
      "ᛠ#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ᛇ",
      "ᛇ#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ᛟ",
      "ᛟ#Old_English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "Alabama",
      "lang_code": "akz",
      "word": "ìika",
      "raw_tags": [
        "reshaped by analogy or addition of morphemes"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lexical": [
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Source etymology 1 · variant 2/2

Original entry ↗

num

The fifth numeral symbol of the English alphabet, called e and written in the Latin script.

character

The fifth letter of the English alphabet, called e and written in the Latin script.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Derivation mentionēla

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ē"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ē"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "ē",
      "e#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "futhorc",
      "futhorc"
    ],
    [
      "ᛖ",
      "ᛖ#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ᚫ",
      "ᚫ#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ᛠ",
      "ᛠ#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ᛇ",
      "ᛇ#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "ᛟ",
      "ᛟ#Old_English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "num",
      "glosses": [
        "The fifth numeral symbol of the English alphabet, called e and written in the Latin script."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "lowercase"
      ],
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      ],
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        "letter",
        "lowercase"
      ],
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Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗

pron

A gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, equivalent to the singular they and coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From a deliberate apheresis of both he and she.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "links": [
    [
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    ],
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      "he",
      "he#English"
    ],
    [
      "she",
      "she#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
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      "pos": "pron",
      "glosses": [
        "A gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, equivalent to the singular they and coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "epicene",
        "nominative",
        "nonstandard",
        "rare",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ],
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Source etymology 3

Original entry ↗

noun

The second semiquaver (sixteenth note) of a beat.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From the common method of counting semiquavers as "one-e-and-a, two-e-and-a" and so on.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "The second semiquaver (sixteenth note) of a beat."
      ],
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      ],
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for e →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger

Machine-source provenance

Source SHA-256: 5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run: 73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID: w-ZQ