Editing H (section)

==Use in writing systems==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|h}} by language
! Orthography
! Phonemes
|-
! {{nwr|[[Standard Chinese]]}} ([[Pinyin]])
| {{IPAslink|x}}
|-
! [[Czech orthography|Czech]]
| {{IPAslink|ɦ}}
|-
! [[English orthography|English]]
| {{IPAslink|h}}, ''silent''
|-
! [[French orthography|French]]
| ''silent''
|-
! [[German orthography|German]]
| {{IPAslink|h}}, ''silent''
|-
! [[Polish orthography|Polish]] 
| {{IPAslink|x}}
|-
! [[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]] 
| ''silent''
|-
! [[Spanish orthography|Spanish]]
| ''silent''
|-
! [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]]
| {{IPAslink|h}}
|}

===English===
In English, {{angbr|h}} occurs as a single-letter [[grapheme]] (being either [[silent letter|silent]] or representing the [[voiceless glottal fricative]] {{IPAslink|h}} and in various [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]]:
* {{angbr|ch}} representing {{IPAslink|tʃ}}, {{IPAslink|ʃ}}, {{IPAslink|k}}, or {{IPAslink|x}}
* {{angbr|gh}} being silent or representing {{IPAslink|ɡ}}, {{IPAslink|k}}, {{IPAslink|p}}, or {{IPAslink|f}}
* {{angbr|ph}} representing {{IPAslink|f}}
* {{angbr|rh}} representing {{IPAslink|r}}
* {{angbr|sh}} representing {{IPAslink|ʃ}}
* {{angbr|th}} representing {{IPAslink|θ}} or {{IPAslink|ð}}
* {{angbr|wh}} representing {{IPAslink|hw}}<ref>In many dialects, {{IPA|/hw/}} and {{IPA|/w/}} have merged</ref> or {{IPAslink|h}}
The letter is silent in a [[syllable rime]], as in ''ah'', ''ohm'', ''dahlia'', ''cheetah'', and ''pooh-poohed'', as well as in certain other words (mostly of French origin) such as ''hour'', ''honest'', ''herb'' (in [[American English|American]] but not [[British English]]) and ''vehicle'' (in certain varieties of English). Initial {{IPA|/h/}} is often not pronounced in the [[weak and strong forms in English|weak form]] of some [[function word]]s, including ''had'', ''has'', ''have'', ''he'', ''her'', ''him'', ''his'', and in some varieties of English (including most regional dialects of England and Wales), it is often [[H-dropping|omitted]] in all words. It was formerly common for ''an'' rather than ''a'' to be used as the indefinite article before a word beginning with {{IPA|/h/}} in an [[stress (linguistics)|unstressed]] syllable, as in "an historian", but the use of ''a'' is now more usual.

In English, the pronunciation of {{angbr|h}} as /h/ can be analyzed as a voiceless vowel. That is, when the phoneme /h/ precedes a vowel, /h/ may be realized as a voiceless version of the subsequent vowel. For example, the word {{angbr|hit}}, /hɪt/ is realized as [ɪ̥ɪt].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/4834/why-is-h-called-voiceless-vowel-phonetically-and-h-consonant-phonologically/4836 |title=phonology - Why is /h/ called voiceless vowel phonetically, and /h/ consonant phonologically? |website=Linguistics Stack Exchange |access-date=2019-05-05 |archive-date=5 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505190530/https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/4834/why-is-h-called-voiceless-vowel-phonetically-and-h-consonant-phonologically/4836 |url-status=live }}</ref>

H is the [[letter frequency|eighth most frequently used letter]] in the English language (after [[S]], [[N]], [[I]], [[O]], [[A]], [[T]], and [[E]]), with a frequency of about 6.1% in words.<ref name=micka>{{cite web |last=Mička |first=Pavel |title=Letter frequency (English) |url=http://en.algoritmy.net/article/40379/Letter-frequency-English |website=Algoritmy.net |access-date=13 November 2024 |archive-date=4 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304152631/http://en.algoritmy.net/article/40379/Letter-frequency-English |url-status=live|quote=Source is Leland, Robert. Cryptological mathematics. [s.l.] : The Mathematical Association of America, 2000. 199 p. ISBN 0-88385-719-7 }}</ref>

===Other languages===
In [[German language|German]], following a vowel, it often silently indicates that the vowel is long: In the word {{lang|de|erhöhen}} ('heighten'), the second {{angbr|h}} is mute for most speakers outside of Switzerland. In 1901, a [[spelling reform]] eliminated the silent {{angbr|h}} in nearly all instances of {{angbr|th}} in native German words such as ''thun'' ('to do') or ''Thür'' ('door'). It has been left unchanged in words derived from Greek, such as {{lang|de|Theater}} ('theater') and {{lang|de|Thron}} ('throne'), which continue to be spelled with {{angbr|th}} even after the last German spelling reform.

In [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], {{angbr|h}} is a silent letter with no pronunciation, as in {{Lang|es|hijo}} {{IPA|es|ˈixo|}} ('son') and {{Lang|pt|húngaro}} {{IPA|pt|ˈũɡaɾu|}} ('Hungarian'). The spelling reflects an earlier pronunciation of the sound {{IPA|/h/}}. In words where the {{Angbr|h}} is derived from a Latin {{IPA|/f/}}, it is still sometimes pronounced with the value {{IPA|[h]}} in some regions of [[Andalusia]], [[Extremadura]], [[Canary Islands|Canarias]], [[Cantabria]], and the Americas. Some words beginning with {{IPA|[je]}} or {{IPA|[we]}}, such as {{langx|es|label=none|hielo|lit=ice}} and {{langx|es|label=none|huevo|lit=egg}}, were given an initial {{angbr|h|}} to avoid confusion between their initial semivowels and the consonants {{angbr|j}} and {{angbr|v}}. This is because {{angbr|j}} and {{angbr|v}} used to be considered variants of {{angbr|i}} and {{angbr|u}} respectively. {{angbr|h}} also appears in the digraph {{angbr|ch}}, which represents {{IPAslink|tʃ}} in Spanish and northern Portugal, and {{IPAslink|ʃ}} in varieties that have merged both sounds (the latter originally represented by {{angbr|x}} instead), such as most of the Portuguese language and some Spanish dialects, prominently [[Chilean Spanish]].

[[French language|French]] orthography classifies words that begin with this letter in two ways, one of which can affect the pronunciation, even though it is a silent letter either way. The ''H muet'', or "mute" {{angbr|h}}, is considered as though the letter were not there at all. For example, the singular definite [[article (grammar)|article]] ''le'' or ''la'', which is [[elision (French)|elided]] to ''l''' before a vowel, elides before an ''H muet'' followed by a vowel. For example, ''le + hébergement'' becomes ''l'hébergement'' ('the accommodation'). The other kind of {{angbr|h}} is called ''h aspiré'' ("[[aspirated h|aspirated '{{angbr|h}}']]", though it is not normally aspirated phonetically), and does not allow elision or [[liaison (French)|liaison]]. For example, in ''le homard'' ('the lobster') the article ''le'' remains unelided, and may be separated from the noun with a bit of a glottal stop. Most words that begin with an ''H muet'' come from Latin (''honneur'', ''homme'') or from Greek through Latin (''hécatombe''), whereas most words beginning with an ''H aspiré'' come from Germanic (''harpe'', ''hareng'') or non-Indo-European languages (''harem'', ''hamac'', ''haricot''); in some cases, an orthographic {{angbr|h}} was added to disambiguate the {{IPA|[v]}} and semivowel {{IPA|[ɥ]}} pronunciations before the introduction of the distinction between the letters {{angbr|v}} and {{angbr|u}}: ''huit'' (from ''uit'', ultimately from Latin ''octo''), ''huître'' (from ''uistre'', ultimately from Greek through Latin ''ostrea'').

In Italian, {{angbr|h}} has no [[phonology|phonological]] value. Its most important uses are in the [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] 'ch' {{IPA|/k/}} and 'gh' {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, as well as to differentiate the spellings of certain short words that are [[homophone]]s, for example, some [[present tense]] forms of the verb ''avere'' ('to have') (such as ''hanno'', 'they have', vs. ''anno'', 'year'), and in short [[interjections]] (''oh'', ''ehi'').

Some languages, including [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], and [[Estonian language|Estonian]], use {{angbr|h}} as a [[voiced glottal fricative|breathy voiced glottal fricative]] {{IPA|[ɦ]}}, often as an allophone of otherwise voiceless {{IPA|/h/}} in a voiced environment.

In [[Hungarian phonology|Hungarian]], the letter represents a phoneme {{IPAslink|h}} with four allophones: {{IPAblink|h}} before vowels, {{IPAblink|ɦ}} between two vowels, {{IPAblink|ç}} after [[front vowel]]s, and {{IPAblink|x}} word-finally after [[back vowel]]s. It can also be a silent word-finally after back vowels. It is {{IPAblink|xː}} when geminated. In archaic spelling, the digraph {{angbr|ch}} represents {{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}} (as in the name ''[[István Széchenyi|Széchenyi]]'') and {{IPAslink|h}} (as in ''[[:wikt:pech#Hungarian|pech]]'', which is pronounced {{IPA|[pɛxː]}}); in certain environments it breaks palatalization of a consonant, as in the name ''Beöthy'', which is pronounced {{IPA|[bøːti]}} (without the intervening ''h,'' the name ''Beöty'' could be pronounced {{IPA|[bøːc]}}); and finally, it acts as a silent component of a digraph, as in the name ''Vargha,'' pronounced {{IPA|[vɒrgɒ]}}.

In [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], when written in the Latin alphabet, {{angbr|h}} is also commonly used for {{IPA|/ɦ/}}, which is otherwise written with the Cyrillic letter {{angbr|г}}.

In [[Irish language|Irish]], {{angbr|h}} is not considered an independent letter, except for a very few non-native words; however, {{angbr|h}} placed after a consonant is known as a "séimhiú" and indicates the [[lenition]] of that consonant; {{angbr|h}} began to replace the original form of a séimhiú, a dot placed above the consonant, after the introduction of typewriters.

In most dialects of Polish, both {{angbr|h}} and the digraph {{angbr|ch}} always represent {{IPA|/x/}}.

In [[Basque language|Basque]], during the 20th century, it was not used in the orthography of the Basque dialects in Spain but it marked an aspiration in the North-Eastern dialects. During the [[Standard Basque|standardization of Basque]] in the 1970s, a compromise was reached that ''h'' would be accepted if it were the first consonant in a syllable. Hence, ''herri'' ("people") and ''etorri'' ("to come") were accepted instead of ''erri'' ([[Biscayan Basque|Biscayan]]) and ''ethorri'' ([[Souletin]]).

===Other systems===
As a phonetic symbol in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA), it is used mainly for the so-called aspirations (fricative or trills), and variations of the plain letter are used to represent two sounds: the lowercase form {{IPAalink|h}} represents the [[voiceless glottal fricative]], and the small capital form {{IPAalink|ʜ}} represents the [[voiceless epiglottal fricative]] (or trill). With a bar, minuscule {{IPAalink|ħ}} is used for a [[voiceless pharyngeal fricative]]. Specific to the IPA, a hooked {{IPAalink|ɦ}} is used for a [[voiced glottal fricative]], and a superscript {{IPAalink|ʰ}} is used to represent [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspiration]].