How many letters are in the English alphabet?

The story behind the answer

The English alphabet contains 26 letters, from A to Z. These include the five main vowels (A, E, I, O, U) and 21 consonants, with Y sometimes acting as a vowel. Counting all the letters used in standard modern English spelling gives 26.

Historically, English adapted the Latin alphabet, which originally had 23 letters. During the Renaissance, J split from I, U split from V, and W (a “double U/V”) was added, bringing the total to 26 by the 17th century. To remember this, think “Latin 23 + J, U, W = 26,” or use the marathon mnemonic: from A to Z is a “marathon” of 26 letters—just like 26 miles in a marathon (26.2).