O With Slash (Ø, ø) is a distinctive letter of the Latin alphabet. It commonly signifies a unique vowel sound, notably in Nordic languages like Danish and Norwegian. This sound is often described as a close-mid front rounded vowel, similar to the 'ur' in English "blur" (in some accents) or the 'eu' in French "bleu". This symbol, essentially an "O" with a stroke, functions as a diacritic indicating a modified vocalization.
Languages that use it
Languages that do not use it
This letter is generally not used in:
- Most East Asian languages, such as Chinese.
- Most South Asian languages, such as Hindi.
- Most Romance languages, such as French or Spanish.
- Most Slavic languages, such as Russian or Polish.
- English.
- Although Icelandic and Swedish attempted to use the o with the stroke, it was not widely adopted.
