In mostsans-serif typefaces, the lowercase letterell⟨l⟩, written as theglyphl, may be difficult to distinguish from the uppercase letter "eye"⟨I⟩ (written as the glyphI); in someserif typefaces, the glyphl may be confused with the glyph1, the digitone. To avoid such confusion, some newercomputer fonts (such asTrebuchet MS) have afinial, a curve to the right at the bottom of the lowercase letterell. Other style variants are provided inscript typefaces anddisplay typefaces. All these variants of the letter are encoded in Unicode asU+004CLLATIN CAPITAL LETTER L orU+006ClLATIN SMALL LETTER L, allowing presentation to be chosen according to each context. For specialist mathematical and scientific use, there are a number of dedicatedcodepoints in theMathematical Alphanumeric Symbols block.
In theRomain du Roi, where the ascenders of lowercase letters have symmetrical serifs at the top,l has an extra serif to the left at themean line to distinguish it from capitalI.[3]
Another means of reducing such confusion is to use symbolℓ, which is acursive, handwriting-style lowercase form of the letter "ell". In Japan and Korea, for example, this is the symbol for theliter. (TheInternational Committee for Weights and Measures recommends usingL orl for the liter,[4] without specifying a typeface.) InUnicode, the cursive form is encoded asU+2113ℓSCRIPT SMALL L from the "letter-like symbols" block. Unicode encodes an explicit symbol asU+1D4C1𝓁MATHEMATICAL SCRIPT SMALL L.[5] TheTeX syntax<math>\ell</math> renders it as. In mathematical formulas, an italic form (ℓ) of the script ℓ is the norm.
InEnglish orthography,⟨l⟩ usually represents the phoneme/l/, which can have several sound values, depending on the speaker's accent, and whether it occurs before or after a vowel. InReceived Pronunciation, thealveolar lateral approximant (the sound represented inIPA by lowercase[l]) occurs before a vowel, as inlip orblend, while thevelarized alveolar lateral approximant (IPA[ɫ]) occurs inbell andmilk. This velarization does not occur in many European languages that use⟨l⟩; it is also a factor making the pronunciation of⟨l⟩ difficult for users of languages that lack⟨l⟩ or have different values for it, such asJapanese or some southern dialects ofChinese. A medical condition or speech impediment restricting the pronunciation of⟨l⟩ is known aslambdacism.
In English orthography,⟨l⟩ is often silent in such words aswalk orcould (though its presence can modify the preceding vowel letter's value), and it is usually silent in such words aspalm andpsalm; however, there is some regional variation. L is theeleventh most frequently used letter in the English language.
Other languages
⟨l⟩ usually represents the sound[l] or some otherlateral consonant. Common digraphs include⟨ll⟩, which has a value identical to⟨l⟩ in English, but has the separate valuevoiceless alveolar lateral fricative (IPA[ɬ]) inWelsh, where it can appear in an initial position. In Spanish,⟨ll⟩ represents/ʎ/ ([ʎ],[j],[ʝ],[ɟʝ], or[ʃ], depending on dialect).
The capital letter L is used as thecurrency sign for theAlbanian lek and theHonduran lempira. It was often used, especially in handwriting, as the currency sign for theItalian lira. Historically, it was commonly used as a currency sign for the Britishpound sterling (to abbreviate the Latinlibra, a pound, see£sd); in modern usage, it has been overtaken by thepound sign (£), which is based on the blackletter form of the letter. In running text, its lower-case form (usuallyitalicised),l, was more often seen.[a]
ₗ : Subscript small l was used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902[14]
ȴ : L with curl is used in Sino-Tibetanist linguistics[15]
Ꞁ ꞁ : Turned L was used byWilliam Pryce to designate the Welsh voiced lateral spirant [ɬ][16] The lower case is also used in theRomic alphabet. In Unicode, these areU+A780ꞀLATIN CAPITAL LETTER TURNED L andU+A781ꞁLATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED L.
The Latin letters⟨L⟩ and⟨l⟩ haveUnicode encodingsU+004CLLATIN CAPITAL LETTER L andU+006ClLATIN SMALL LETTER L. These are the samecode points as those used inASCII andISO 8859. There are alsoprecomposed character encodings for⟨L⟩ and⟨l⟩ with diacritics, for most of those listedabove; the remainder are produced usingcombining diacritics.
^For example, see theDiary of Samuel Pepys for 31December 1661: " I suppose myself to be worth about 500l. clear in the world, ..."[6]
References
^"L"Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989)Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. (1993); "el", "ells",op. cit.
^Kleinsorge, Moritz."Le Romain du Roi".Identity Letters. RetrievedJanuary 9, 2025.
^ab"The International System of Units (SI) | The SI brochure, 9th edition, 2019"(PDF). December 2022. RetrievedJuly 23, 2023.The litre, and the symbol lower-case l, were adopted by the CIPM in 1879 (PV, 1879, 41). The alternative symbol, capital L, was adopted by the 16th CGPM (1979, Resolution 6; CR, 101 and Metrologia, 1980, 16, 56-57) in order to avoid the risk of confusion between the letter l (el) and the numeral 1 (one).
^"Foire aux questions sur l'horlogerie et les montres" [Frequently asked questions about watches and clocks].horlogerie-suisse.com (in French). Archived fromthe original on January 21, 2022. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2022.Par tradition ancestrale, les horlogers n'utilisent pas le millimètre mais la ligne pour désigner le diamètre d'encageage d'un mouvement. [By ancestral tradition, watchmakers do not use the millimeter but the line to designate the casing diameter of a movement]
^H. P. Lehmann, X. Fuentes-Arderiu, and L. F. Bertello (1996): "Glossary of terms in quantities and units in Clinical Chemistry (IUPAC-IFCC Recommendations 1996)"; page 963, item "Avogadro constant".Pure and Applied Chemistry, volume 68, issue 4, pages 957–1000.doi:10.1351/pac199668040957
