ch

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ch"

Translingual

Letter

ch (mixed case Ch, upper case CH)

1. A digraph from c and h, considered an individual letter in some languages.

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English

Etymology 1

Noun

ch

1. Abbreviation of chain - a unit of measurement equal to 22 yards

Etymology 2

Aphetic form of ich, utch, ultimately from Old English iċ (“I”). Compare Dutch 'k, an aphetic variant of ik (“I”). More at ich, I.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃ/

Pronoun

ch

1. (obsolete, dialectal) Alternative form of I

Anagrams

• H&C, H/C, HC, h/c

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Czech

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case CH, mixed case Ch)

1. A digraph, the fourteenth letter of the Czech alphabet, after h and before i.

Usage notes

In names or at the beginning of a sentence the mixed case Ch is used (e. g. Chrudim).

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Esperanto

Letter

ch

1. A digraph used in the h-sistemo to represent ĉ.

See also

• gh, hh, jh, sh
• cx, gx, hx, jx, sx, ux

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French

Alternative forms

• ch.

Etymology 1

Abbreviation of chaque (“each”).

Adjective

ch (invariable)

1. ea (each)

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of cheval-vapeur (“horsepower”).

Noun

ch m (plural ch)

1. hp (horsepower)

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Latvian

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case CH, mixed case Ch)

1. (obsolete) a letter used in older, pre-World-War-II Latvian spelling, but now replaced everywhere by h (upper case H)

Usage notes

This letter can still be found in older books, or in books written by the Latvian diaspora prior to the fall of the Soviet Union. It used to represent the sound of IPA symbol /x/, as distinct from /h/; but since these sounds have merged as /x/ in current Latvian pronunciation, <h> (= /x/) is now used in all cases.

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Slovak

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /x/

Letter

ch (upper case Ch)

1. The sixteenth letter of the Slovak alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) písmeno; A a, Á á, Ä ä, B b, C c, Č č, D d, Ď ď, Dz dz, Dž dž, E e, É é, F f, G g, H h, Ch ch, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ĺ ĺ, Ľ ľ, M m, N n, Ň ň, O o, Ó ó, Ô ô, P p, Q q, R r, Ŕ ŕ, S s, Š š, T t, Ť ť, U u, Ú ú, V v, W w, X x, Y y, Ý ý, Z z, Ž ž

Further reading

• “ch”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

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Spanish

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case CH, mixed case Ch)

1. che, the fourth letter of the Spanish alphabet, after c and before d

Usage notes

Since 1994, this letter has been treated as c followed by h for collation (sorting) purposes only. In 2010, this letter was officially removed by the RAE from the Spanish alphabet.

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Uzbek

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /tʃ/

Letter

ch (upper case Ch)

1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Uzbek alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) harf; A a, B b, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Q q, R r, S s, T t, U u, V v, X x, Y y, Z z, Oʻ oʻ, Gʻ gʻ, Sh sh, Ch ch, Ng ng

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Welsh

Letter

ch (lower case, upper case CH, mixed case Ch)

1. èch, the fourth letter of the Welsh alphabet, after c and before d

Usage notes

Like the other Welsh digraphs, ch is considered a distinct letter of the Welsh alphabet for all purposes, including collation. Thus, chwech is alphabetically sorted after cyllell.