In Old English, the letter æ was pronounced ash. The pronuncation varied from the low front vowel of cat to the mid front vowel of ten. Though it is no longer used in English, it is used in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese.
Many English words used to be spelt with the letter æ. Examples include encyclopædia, hyæna, musæum, mediæval and phænomenon. However, the letter æ only survived until the thirteenth century.
Though the letter æ was used in Old English, it is no longer part of the English alphabet. However, it is used by the International Phonetic Alphabet and represents a low front unrounded vowel. It is also used in the alphabets of other Germanic languages.
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