L

L, 12th letter in the English alphabet. The form of the capital letter first appeared in Latin, adapted from the Greek letter lambda. This in turn was derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph.

The sound of l is technically a voiced lateral consonant or semivowel, sometimes known as a liquid (see Phonetics). It is often given a neutral vowel sound, as in battle and able. An opposite process, in which a formerly sounded l is no longer pronounced but is retained in spelling, is found in such words as walk, folk, palm, and half.