Though it’s a high-value letter in Scrabble and Words with Friends, h is a relatively common letter. Statistically speaking, it is the eighth most commonly used letter in the English language. That’s because h is usually paired with other consonants like wh, ch, sh, and gh. H is found in the most common two-letter pair (th) and in the most common three-letter combination (the). Find the raw data here. (The letter h is typically pronounced aitch.)
Where did the letter come from, though? It can be traced back to Northern Semitic languages and today is the English corollary to the Hebrew letter heth, which is pronounced as it is spelled. (Some letters like u and j are relatively new to written language. Who is responsible for the letter J?)
Phoenician and proto-Semitic languages are the earliest recorded alphabets that use symbols to represent sounds rather than to represent things like Egyptian hieroglyphics. (Greek is considered the first true alphabet because it uses symbols to represent both consonant and vowel sounds). In proto-Semitic, the letter H was also the word for thread or fence, and if you look at the letter H, it is still clear that it looks like a portion of a fence.
Like most stories of the English language, the tale of the h involves scribes in England in the 1000s and 1100s. As the French influence on Middle English began, the letter h kept moving around, coming in and out of words. Take the word author. The word originally entered the language from French as autour, but around the 1500s, scribes started inserting the h and changed it into author. In a more complicated manner, scribes also put hs on the beginning of words, even though the hs remained silent, as in the words honest and historical. So today we often put the article an before words that start with a silent h, as in the phrase, “an honest Joe.” (Why do we capitalize letters in the first place? Find out.)
What other letters of the English language would you like to learn about? Do you have a favorite letter?
First true language or first true alphabet? This seems like a very serious error.
“Greek is considered the first true language…”
I think that statement needs to be reconsidered.
it’s amazing!!!now i know that letter ”H” is the eight common letter used in English language………….
You left out ph
And what the heck does this have to do with Ron Weasley…?
My favorite letter is M.
It’s fun to write, with he angles and stuff.
I also sounds.. like.. I dunno.
Ehmm. huh.
They call it the Ron Weasley because it’s the tag-along letter.
In french its auteur not autour
My guess is because Ron Weasley is the “Sidekick” type.
Ron Weasley is always paired up with someone – always a secondary character.
FYI, the article does not say “Greek is considered the first true language”, it says “Greek is considered the first true alphabet”.
What a coincidence – I’m watching “Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″ right now!
Oh, and it does say “first true alphabet”, by the way.
Still don’t get what the heck that has to do with Ron…
“H” is the Ron Weasley of the alphabet because both are common, but have a high value. They are comparing “H”’s high value in Scrabble and Words with Friends with Ron’s high value in the Harry Potter series.
Also, it is usually paired with other letters, and Ron is usually paired with other people like Harry or Hermione.
I clicked this cuz I luv HP!! Where’s the Weasley??? and Greek IS NOT the first true language.. Even I know that!!
interesting…. and I think I can guess as to why it relates to Ron Weasley. When you hover your cursor over the tab on dictionary.com ’s homepage, it says it is always paired with other letters. I can assume that they mean that Ron is also paired with other people. Like Harry, Hermione, Hagrid (funny, how each of those names start with the letter ‘H’). You never really see Ron with more than one other person. He is always paired with another. This may be splitting hairs, but I think this is why they mentioned Ron Weasley.
I think the ‘Ron Weasley’ thing is about how it’s often stuck to other letters (like how Ron, as the youngest son, is lumped in with all his older brothers). Kind of a lame analogy, but I’m guessing that’s what they’re getting at.
On another note, I think it would make more sense if it said “h’s” rather than “hs.” I initially thought that that referred to a letter combination “hs,” rather than a plural of “h.”
I don’t get the Ron Weasley part…. and what “h” in historical is silent? Just wondering, not in a mean way.
….what does the letter H have to do with Ron Weasley
Confused much? Maybe this will clear things up…
Ron Weasley = always right there w/Harry Potter
H = always right there next to other letters
What about how words like “what” and “when” used to (and by some still are) pronounced with an h sound? Also, the letter h is silent in French. There are also two types of th sounds in English (the, thought).
I’m pretty sure you pronounce the ‘h’ in ‘historical’.
And yeah – what’s the Ron Weasley thing?
How does this have anything to do with Ron Weasly.? O-O
what
woah, H is the 8th most common letter and the 8th letter of the alphabet! that’s awesome.
It seems that the article is written in a haste and has nothing to do with anything in particular. Pointless by the normal standard of Hot Word Blog of Dictionary.com
Regards
O my god, people get your facts write! H originated from semetic Hay, which is pronounced as it’s spelled, but ‘Heth’ was actually Khet, and was not pronounced on e bit as it sounds!
^ya im with this guy, im lost.
In my view, the written letter that’s a definite waste in the English language is the letter “x.” It doesn’t really have its own unique sound other than the perceived “ks;” it doesn’t play a major role in spoken language, but it does play a major role in abbreviated words like “x-ray,” in mathematics (10 x 2 = 20), and other visual systems, like in sports concepts and tic-tac-toe. I do think it’s a beautiful letter, however. As a written character it seems to make written English more varied and rich.
i think its Hermoine…that’s why H is Ron Weasley’s alphabet.. he likes her.. so thats it!…she is he’s H…
people….concentrate HERE!!! what the author actually means is that Ron Weasly has often been seen as the “UNLUCKIEST” of all characters…if not so, atleast as the most “SCREWED-UP” for sure…the same is with the letter “H”…its always paired with a host of other letters which ends up reducing its worth, same as when comparing RON with HARRY, Ron seems to be the “NOT-SO-IMPORTANT” type…now do you get the picture??!!
So what makes H the “saddest” letter
Would people stop with the HP garbage. But then again, this blog is so flawed it deserves to be derailed. so go ahead.
Yes, but in the semitic languages, specially Hebrew, the H-prefix is the definite article, the, or the pre-sentential questionmark, (plus other mid-word uses): they’d say the equivalent of, H-Why is H-sky blue, rather than, Why is the sky blue?
More interesting on top of that, the K, was used as the ‘definitive’ article, stronger than the H ‘definite’ article, but because mankind is a step down from cosmic primacy, the meaning of the K became ‘like-’, so, K’Eb, meaning THE-Father (definitively-the-one-and-only, Adam), became ‘Like-the’-Father.
And, as for the voweling, I’d say that’s a trivial comparison with the Greek: There are many shortcomings, even in English, most notably resulting in the lack of meaningful acronyms, and the excessives of jargonalia (?), and the weirdness of accents blending into spoken punctuation… H-Ebrew had liquids and semivowels (in the Alephbeth) that sufficed as both consonants and important vowels… But when spoken, the language does have vowels (which private students read and write as Points) extending the capability of the written: Vowels are more fluid, changing freely where English changes the cadence instead, identifying tenses and appositions, and distinguishing nouns from verbs, etc.
Interestingly, the letter h has been adopted into the Japanese language because it’s pronunciation, “aitch,” is very similar to the word which means to be sexually aroused. You can see the letter h used in book titles, on posters, in advertisements, etc. in Japan.
True story.
wHo the Hell is Ron Weasly ?? .. am Mr. H 
What does H have to do with Ron Weasley???????
Ron Weasley was always there beside Harry Potter in times of good and bad. Harry Potter = H. Ron Weasley is always there beside him….
I love how people comment on things that they either a.) didn’t take the time to read correctly or even more incredulous, b.) comment before reading any previously posted posts.
Seriously, people, are you kidding me? Multiple people have offered interpretations of the Ron Weasley thing, yet how many posts keep asking the same stupid question?
Bron, I thought the exact same thing, lol. I, too, am curious how the “h” in historical is somehow silent. Dictionary.com should really screen who they’re letting write these articles, otherwise it risks becoming as fallacious as BleacherReport.com is for sports articles (anybody can submit an article to get published without any kind of proof-reading for fact accuracy.)
The Hebrew letter to which you refer is “Hey” and it is pronounced as such – not “Heth”. Next time consult with any grade school child who learns the language before writing such an egregious error. Just basic research. Thanks
My favorite letter is “S”. It’s kind of sensual…
Ess. Yes.
Currently listening to the audiobook ‘Needful Things’, read by Stephen King. He pronounces every H in every word (white, what, wheel, etc.). Had me wondering if I’ve been doing it wrong all these years, but the dictionary gives both options.
Those of you who are saying “Greek isn’t the first true language”, please educate us. What is the first true language?
“H” is a great letter. It’s one of only 8 letters that stand on their own two feet; straight and proud. And that is as it should be for H. Happiness starts with H. As does Honesty and Humility. And why trust a Handshake? Because it begins with H, of course. What are the two most important parts of our body? Our Head and our Heart…without which we wouldn’t have much Health. Again, there’s H leading the charge. Oh yes, without my Hands, it would have been much harder to type this! Ah H, a great letter, where the Heck would we be without it?
Ron Weasley is the underdog, in the movies he was kindof made fun of, and never in the spotlight.
H is always sharing the spotlight with someone.
And @Andrew W. Soukup
It says “first true alphabet”
Not language.
Like my name everyone?
[...] How Now Brown Cow? — “My name Jose Jimenez,” says Rousseau — Still not chasing fowl. — Complicated linguistics are not our cup of Tea. — If it weren’t for online dictionaries — Who else would Oui be? — Don’t Cha know. –>>L.T.Rhyme [...]
do u honestly care about the the letter h so much that you have compared it to a fictional character? ur cool…
People need to stop commenting with questions 10 people have already answered. It’s annoying.
Poor Ron. XD
He rarely gets any glory.
Umm, the hebrew letter “heth” is NOT pronounced like that. Its “hay”
@Donna Bungo Because Ron is the loneliest of the Harry Potter bunch. He’s a ginger, after all.
Of course I have a fav letter! that begins my name….
V is another one.
However I very much like to know more about the letter Q. Why should Q always has to have U in Eng lang?
@ Donna Bungo: Ron Weasley is used metaphorically, perhaps, so we’ll be very curius about the aritcle.
Ron wesley is a character in Harry Potter series; Ron is there for Harry whenever the later needs him. (Like our mothers who are always ready and awaits her children) Likewise H is always there to T (tH as in the), S (sH in she), C (cH in character) and so on whenever these alphabets need H.
@ Andrew W Soukup: Not lang but ALPHABET “Greek is considered the first true alphabet b/c it uses symbols to represent both consonants and vowel sounds”
@ Dave: I didn’t get that either. However I know it’s kind of bragging/game as to prove that we are first @ this and such that should not be here in Dictionary esp when it teaches something or promots education. It is easy to forget it looks by some
One thing I know that many langs are in the category of alphabet (mostly in Europe, possibly), while many other such as Sanskrit and other in Asia …, perhaps, their’s are of SCRIPT form; these are made up of ABJADs & ABUGIDAs. Here in latter the consonants have inherent AU; no seperate vowel, AU, needed, and for other vowels they have UNIQUE way of representing them.
Mind you these are new to me and I am yet to fully understand but enjoying exceedingly….
It’s great article… thanks
So Ron weasley is a tag along with Harry and Hermione like H is with the other letters that come before it?
I don’t even like to use H. I use J to say haha so it comes out the same but is spanish…jaja…see! J is more fun
O well mi favorite letter is S so curvy jeejee
@ Sam McFisher
Hi Mr. H
The H in words like “historical” is only silent if you’re from New York (more or less), where they pronounce “human” as “YOO-mun”, for example. So yes, for most of the rest of the English-speaking world, that item in this article is incorrect.
As for the Ron Weasley question, it is really pretty self-evident, but if you’re still thirsty for more specific answers/discussion, please at least scan through the comments above, 60% of which are asking or answering that very question, in a small variety of ways.
And lastly, to settle the other question that keeps popping up, it clearly was not meant to call Greek “the first language”, as the latter word was changed at some point to “alphabet”. So no one should have any further need to panickedly comment on or ask about that.
(Note to Self: To generate a disproportionate amount of comments/traffic, cryptically mention Ron Weasley in all posts.)
People keep asking because it’s a poorly written article. If I say “I’m gonna make you a steal dinner!” and then go on to give you a ceasar salad, vegetable soup, and mashed potatoes, you would ask where the steak is. In the same way you don’t hook readers with a pop culture analogy and then fail to explain it. But it’s nice to know that if I applied for a job as a writer here, it couldn’t possibly be that hard to get a job.
Who the heck IS that Weasely chap?
In French, the letter h is silent. There are, though, aspirated aitches and un-aspirated aitches.
The French word “autour” influenced Middle English — meaning that the word itself represents Old or Middle French. Later, “autour” developed into the Modern Fr. that we know today, “auteur.”
@Jul
The French word “autour” influenced Middle English — meaning that the word itself represents Old or Middle French. Later, “autour” developed into the Modern Fr. that we know today, “auteur.”
I’m confused. What does this have to do with Ron Weasly?
what in the world does this have to do with him???????????i just do not get it
Ron Wesely was a part of harry potter ,what does this have to do with h being the saddest letter in the alphabet!!!!
he is a harry potter character!!
First of all, thank you all for reminding me who Ron Weasley is. Second of all, he was surely mentioned in the headline because some overzealous editor and Harry Potter fan thought that might be one way to drive traffic to this otherwise forlorn little article. It appears he or she was correct.
What would be more interesting would be some coherent explanation of why medieval scribes became fond of dumping this particular letter randomly into French words. Alas, I may never learn.
I just like it because it has something to do with Harry Potter! : )
It mentioned Ron Weasley because he’s like Harry’s sidekick, and they are saying that H is a sidekick letter.
It’s because the letters need H. Just like others need Ron Weasley.
How perfect! Not only is Ron Weasley by far my favorite character from the series, but I’m also lucky enough to have two hs in my name. Do you think we’re meant to be?
How is the ‘h’ in historical silent?
Obviously the link between the letter H and Ron Weasley is due to the fact that it really doesn’t amount to much unless it’s paired with another letter… and for occasional “herorics”
Ba-doom-doom, crash.
that is so mean because in 9 and i have read all the harry potter books and seen all 8 of them and i love ron………………………….
Gosh. H is Ron since H is s, c, and t’s sidekick, just as Ron is harry’s.
“Like most stories of the English language, the tale of the h involves scribes in England in the 1000s and 1100s.”
It would be incorrect to suggest that the letter H came into the English language from the French (Norman) influence on Middle English (but yes it did move around like most letters).
Old English loved the letter H too, long before the French influence:
Hroðgar, Healfdene, Heorot, Heorogar, Halga, Hygelac, Heaðobards
The letter H also naturally dropped off the start of words in the scandinavian languages also, check out the swedish example.
English What Where Why(wherefore)
Norwegian Hva Hvor Hvorfor
Danish Hvad Hvor Hvorfor
Swedish Vad Var Varför
this is carzzzy and funny lol
eh? wats this? I don’t get it. what does ron weasley have anything to do with that? why is it sad if its used so much? WHY ARE THEY CREATEING A STINKIN SUBJECT ABOUT THIS??? O.o
I like snape! 
The h in historical can be silent. It’s very common to hear people say “an ‘istorical event” instead of “a historical event”. One may say “historical” with the h when listing the word by itself, but still drop the h in a sentence. I hear that all the time…not sure what the confusion is?
Talk about a poorly written article
O rly…
I’m getting annoyed with the titles of these articles…. article writing lesson #1: If you make a claim in the title / abstract, you must at least mention this claim in your essay, or make the connection clear. How exactly is this article about the history of the letter ‘H’ a sad and winding history?
And holy crap, people, learn how to spell. IT IS NOT CUTE to purposefully spell words incorrectly. It makes you sound like a stereotypical teenage girl who is maybe not stupid, but likes to act that way because she thinks that will make guys like her better. And for some guys it does – they don’t want a girl smarter than them. But news flash: that isn’t the kind of guy you want to end up with anyway. In case nobody has told you yet, men will appreciate you more if they can see that you have a brain with which you think coherent, independent thoughts.
I know this is incredibly off topic, but it makes me angry to see women intentionally subjugate themselves.
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DOES THIS MEAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SORRY
I would like to learn about the letter ’s’.
RHon WHeasly, eH WHat?
WHo tHe Hell is He? Ha, Ha
Anyway, I love “H”, “easly”
How come nobody gets the Ron Weasley thing?
Doesn’t answer the question frankly, thanks for the history though
Wait how is this sad?
This is one of the most meaningless things I have ever read.
@Betsy
Lol you’re cool.
The letter ‘H’ happens to be my second favorite. My first is the letter ‘R’.
I bet nobody can guess why……. =)
I don’t know about you, but when I say “historical”, the h can clearly be heard.
Here Ron Weasley probably implies ‘the common’
WOOOOOOOOOWWWW
DOESN’T ANYBODY LIKE THE LETTER “Z”? I THINK “Z” IS PRETTY SNAZZY. IT FITS SOME PEOPLE I KNOW WHO ARE TOO LAZZY TO READ OR THINK SO I CONSIDER THEM “ZZEROS”. LEMMEKNOW. NOW I’LL GO CATCH SOME ZZZZZZZZZZZZZs.
I wanna ask Don weasley a question
ha! who says ‘istorical’! yeah maybe the ‘h’ in honesty is silent, but really, historical??!!! whoever did this, make sure u check it! fun and interesting, but just check:)
I like W. W W W W W W W W W.
I like Q and K. Q for quirky, quiche, quick-minded, quake, queer, quote, queue. K for key, kite, kayak, killer (queen!), koala, koi, kudos.
My favourite letter is A
I can relate to the letter A in a few ways which include:
My name starts and ends with A
My middle name ends with A
The 2nd and last letter of my surname is A
I was born in Australia which starts with A
I was born in Autumn which starts with A
I was born near the beggining of April (end of March) which starts with A
p.s. in Australia, summer is Dec-Feb (so instead of a white Christmas, we get a boiling hot Christmas), Autumn is Mar-May, winter is Jun-Aug and spring is Sep-Nov
I hate the letter N. (just sayin)
i love the letter F and the letter R and the letter K
Huff, thanks a lot. I am a respected wizard and when you call me a tag along dude and relate me to H it makes me say a wizard swear. If my brothers heard about this they reducto you into nothing. Also, I feel like your making fun of my family because H stands for Hobo. I am now a depressed Ron Weasley, thanks a lot.
@ALISHA…THATS COOL SWEET
I only clicked on this because it said “Ron Weasley” I didn’t realize that it was comparing “H” to “Rom Weasley”. Ron Weasley is not common by the way!
I don’t get it. What does H have to do with Ron?
Citrus’s answer kind of does make sense………
thank you
Also, we typically don’t put an “an” before words like “unicorn” that are pronounced with an apparent Y at the beginning.
I find that odd. You would think that since it is so common that it would be the most worn-out on most people’s keyboards and yet, it is the letter N which holds that honor of having the letter worn to the point where it is halfway invisible.
I love the Harry Potter series!!!!!!!
@Ron Weasley, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha NOT.
u should not be dating Lavender Brown. Hermione is interested in you….go out with her…..P.S. i know you 2 marry at the end even tho i didnt even finish the 6th book yet……..
LOL i know ur not the real Ron Weasley, there isn’t one ; Rupert Grint is just an actor.
so i dont need a mary torres commenting you actually thought he was the real Ron Weasley???????? (no offense to mary torres i just used you as an example bcoz i know u comment a lot. p.s. i <3 u the most ur personality is really unique judging by ur comments.)
i get it!!!!!!!!!
sometimes dictionary.com has confusing titles, but this makes sense to me now!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’d like to learn about the letter H. You have a nice website here.
1.think of your crush
2.make a heart with your hands
3.then kiss your hand while still making the heart
4.then put the heart where your real heart is
5.tomorrow your crush will ask you out
6.this will only work if u post this on your favorite article
I have taken note that of all varieties of insurance, medical care insurance is the most controversial because of the issue between the insurance plan company’s duty to remain profitable and the consumer’s need to have insurance policies. Insurance companies’ profits on health plans are certainly low, thus some providers struggle to make a profit. Thanks for the concepts you talk about through this site.
a nice post for site
I think it has to do with Ron Weasley because it is often found paired up with another letter (that being Harry I guess?). Yeah… you guys should have made that clear.
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research about this. We got a book from our area library but I think I learned more from this post. I am very glad to see such fantastic information being shared freely out there..
I don’t get it. What does that explanation have to do with Ron Weasley?