Do we miss them?

These letters were left out of the English alphabet, and here's why

Image: Ksenia Makagonova

Some letters and symbols were once part of the English alphabet or its ancestors. But time and lack of use eventually made them be dropped, replaced, or forgotten. Most of them come from Old English, Middle English, Latin, or early printing traditions, and their stories are full of phonetic shifts, shortcuts, and the drive toward standardization. Let’s look at them!

Image: Andrey Grinkevich

Thorn was used to represent the "th" sound in words like thin or this. It visually resembled a modern P, which often causes confusion when seen in old manuscripts.

Common in Old English, it eventually got phased out during the Middle English period, replaced by the two-letter combination th. Thorn survives today in modern Icelandic, though!

Image: James Barnett

Eth was another letter used to represent the "th" sound, particularly the voiced version. It looked a bit like a crossed D and appeared alongside thorn in Old English texts.

Over time, English speakers settled on using "th" for both the voiced and voiceless sounds, and eth gradually fell out of use. Like thorn, eth still exists in modern Icelandic.

Image: MART PRODUCTION

Wynn was used to represent the "w" sound in Old English—a sound that Latin lacked a letter for. It resembled a capital "P," though it had no connection to that sound.

Instead of writing two "u"s (as in "uu"), scribes used wynn. Over time, however, "uu" evolved into the modern "w," and wynn was phased out during the Middle English period.

Image: Josué AS

Yogh had a rather confusing role. It could represent several sounds: a throaty "gh" like in "night," a "y" as in "yes," or even a soft "g" like in "genre," depending on context and region. It looked like the number 3 and was used heavily in Middle English.

As spelling and pronunciation evolved, these sounds were either lost or spelled differently (gh, y, j, or g).

Image: Bruno Martins

Ash is a fusion of "a" and "e," borrowed from Latin and used in Old English words like æthel (noble). It represented a distinct vowel sound, somewhere between "a" and "e," like the short "a" in cat.

In early English texts, it was treated as a letter in its own right. Over time, as English spelling standardized, ash was replaced by "a" or "e" depending on pronunciation.

Image: Natalia Y.

Think of Ethel as a relative of ash. This ligature combines "o" and "e" and shows up in Latin borrowings like fœtus, œuvre, and œconomy. As spelling was standardized, it got the axe in favor of plain old "oe" or even just "e."

You’ll still spot it in French and in stylized English writing.

Image: Jo Coenen - Studio Dries 2.6

This curious mark, which resembles a 7, means "and." Created by Cicero’s secretary Tiro in ancient Rome, it became a popular shorthand used by monks and scribes throughout the medieval world, including in Old English.

In Ireland, it persisted longer than almost anywhere else, until the more elegant ampersand (&) eventually took its place.

Image: Mark Wieder

Well, we know this one! But as a symbol, not as a letter from the alphabet. Once upon a time, schoolchildren recited it after "Z": X, Y, Z, and "per se and," which eventually morphed into the word "ampersand."

The symbol itself is a ligature of the Latin word et, meaning "and."

Image: Mark Rasmuson

This one looked like a medieval mashup of a "g" and a "z," and was mostly found in Irish and Old English manuscripts.

It served the same purpose as today’s "g." It stuck around until the Carolingian script took over, giving us the more familiar "g" we know today.

Image: Ot van Lieshout

At first glance, the Long S (ſ) looks like a stretched-out "f" missing its crossbar, but it’s an "s" in disguise. This character was used at the start and middle of words (e.g., ſunshine, bleſſing), but never at the end.

The character was ubiquitous in English printing until the late 1700s, when it was gradually replaced by the modern "s."

Image: Aaron Burden

The letter itself sounded like the "ng" at the end of "fang" or "sing."

The letter resembles an "n" with a tail and remains in use today in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and in languages such as Sami and Māori. However, English spelling never officially adopted it.

Extraordinary plants, trees, and fungi

Think you've seen it all? These plants and organisms will blow your mind

Image: kazuend

Maybe you've mastered growing tomatoes or finally figured out why your geraniums keep dying, and that’s all very well. Still, the botanical world has been keeping some seriously wild secrets from you! Our botanical world is packed with surprises that'll make you want to grab your gardening gloves and explore. These green (and sometimes not-so-green) wonders prove that the most fascinating life forms might just be growing right under our noses.

Image: Earl Wilcox

Selaginella lepidophylla can survive complete dehydration for months, looking absolutely dead as a doornail. But add a little water, and within hours it springs back to vibrant green life, like nature's own magic trick. Native Americans called it the "resurrection plant," and it has amazed desert travelers for centuries. It's basically the ultimate comeback kid of the plant world—making your Monday morning coffee revival look like amateur hour.

Image: Brandon Green

California's bristlecone pines make your grandparents look like spring chickens. The oldest known specimen, nicknamed "Methuselah," has been growing for over 4,850 years. That means it was already a teenager when the pyramids were built! These gnarled survivors thrive in harsh, high-altitude conditions that would make most plants throw in the towel faster than you can say "retirement community."

Image: Janik

The Venus flytrap has reflexes that would make a NASCAR driver jealous. When an insect triggers its tiny hairs twice within 20 seconds, SNAP! The trap closes in just one-tenth of a second. Native to the Carolina bogs, this carnivorous charmer gets its nutrients from bugs instead of soil, proving that sometimes you really do need to think outside the pot.

Image: Igor Omilaev

Over 80 species of fungi light up the forest floor like nature's own Christmas decorations. The foxfire fungus creates an eerie green glow visible on dark nights, helping attract insects for spore dispersal. These bioluminescent beauties have been mystifying forest walkers for centuries.

Image: Freepik

Amorphophallus titanum produces the world's smelliest flower, reeking like rotting meat mixed with dirty gym socks. This aromatic assault attracts carrion beetles and flies from miles away, who become unwitting pollinators as they crawl around looking for the "rotting carcass" that doesn't exist. The bloom can reach 10 feet tall and only flowers every few years, making it the botanical equivalent of a once-in-a-lifetime rock concert—if rock concerts smelled like garbage trucks.

Image: Hikmet

Mimosa pudica, nicknamed the "shy plant," collapses its leaves instantly when touched, as if it's playing dead or having a case of the vapors. This dramatic response happens in seconds and helps protect it from hungry herbivores. It's like having a plant that throws a tantrum every time someone tries to pet it—perfect for those who prefer low-maintenance relationships with their greenery.

Image: Taisia Karaseva

These California giants can live over 3,000 years and grow taller than the Statue of Liberty. The largest, "General Sherman," weighs as much as 10 blue whales and has a trunk so wide that 20 people holding hands couldn't wrap around it. Their bark can be two feet thick—thicker than most apartment walls—and is naturally fire-resistant.

Image: Matteo Grando

Starting as a tiny seed dropped by a bird high in a tree canopy, the strangler fig slowly grows downward, wrapping around its host tree like a very patient python. Over decades, it gradually strangles and kills its host, leaving a hollow center where the original tree once stood. It's like the plant kingdom's version of a hostile takeover, except it takes about 50 years to complete the paperwork.

Image: wirestock

These African icons look like someone planted them upside-down, with their massive trunks and spindly branches resembling roots reaching for the sky. Baobabs can store up to 32,000 gallons of water in their trunks—enough to fill a swimming pool! Some specimens are over 2,000 years old and so huge that people have carved pubs, prisons, and even bus stops inside their hollow trunks.

Image: Olivie Strauss

In Oregon's Blue Mountains, a single honey mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) spans 2,385 acres underground—larger than 1,600 football fields! This fungal giant is estimated to be between 2,000 and 8,000 years old and mostly lives as an invisible network of root-like threads beneath the soil. It's basically nature's internet, connecting and communicating through the forest floor long before we figured out WiFi.