Latin epsilon

Latin epsilon or open E (majuscule: Ɛ, minuscule: ɛ) is a letter of the extended Latin alphabet, based on the lowercase of the Greek letter epsilon (ε). It occurs in the orthographies of many Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages, such as Ewe, Akan, Lingala, Dinka and Maasai, for the vowel [ɛ] or [e̙], and is included in the African reference alphabet.

Fante translation of the Book of Mormon; note the use of the Latin epsilon in the word N'AHYƐMU.

In the Berber Latin alphabet currently used in Algerian Berber school books,[1] and before that proposed by the French institute INALCO, it represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative [ʕ]. Some authors use ƹayin ⟨ƹ⟩ instead; both letters are similar in shape with the Arabic ʿayn ⟨ع⟩.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) uses various forms of the Latin epsilon:

• U+025B ɛ LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN E represents the open-mid front unrounded vowel
• U+025D ɝ LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED OPEN E WITH HOOK represents the rhotacized open-mid central vowel
• U+025E ɞ LATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED REVERSED OPEN E represents the open-mid central rounded vowel (shown as U+029A ʚ LATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED OPEN E on the 1993 IPA chart)

The Uralic Phonetic Alphabet uses various forms of the Latin epsilon:[2]

• U+1D08 ᴈ LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED OPEN E
• U+1D4B ᵋ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL OPEN E
• U+1D4C ᵌ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL TURNED OPEN E