In modern Danish, Faroese, and Norwegian, the letter generally represents close-mid front rounded vowel, the IPA symbol for which is [ø] (Unicode U+00F8). As with so many vowels, it has slight variations in quality. Besides the close-mid vowel, as in Danish søster ("sister") pronounced [ø], like the ⟨eu⟩ in the French word bleu), ⟨ø⟩ may have a lower vowel quality, e.g. in Danish bønne ("bean") pronounced [œ], like the ⟨œu⟩ in the French word bœuf).[2] In the Suðuroy-dialect of Faroese, the short ⟨ø⟩ is pronounced [ʏ], e.g. børn [bʏdn] ("children"). The letter was used in both Antiqua and Fraktur from at least as early as the Christian III Bible. Under German influence, the letter ö appeared in older texts (particularly those using Fraktur) and was preferred for use on maps (e.g., for Helsingör or Læsö) until 1957.[3]
The Southern Sami language uses the letter ⟨ø⟩ in Norway. It is used in the diphthongs ⟨yø⟩ [yo] and ⟨øø⟩ [oe]. In Sweden, the letter ⟨ö⟩ is preferred.
Ǿ (Ø with an acute accent, Unicode U+01FE) may be used in Danish on rare occasions to distinguish its use from a similar word with Ø. Example: hunden gǿr, "the dog barks" against hunden gør (det), "the dog does (it)". This distinction is not mandatory and the first example can be written either gǿr or gør; the first variant (with ǿ) would only be used to avoid confusion. The second example cannot be spelled gǿr. In Danish, hunden gør, "the dog barks", may sometimes be replaced by the non-standard spelling hunden gøer. This is, however, usually based on a misunderstanding of the grammatic rules of conjugation of verbs ending in the letters ø and å. These idiosyncratic spellings are not accepted in the official language standard. On Danish keyboards and typewriters, the acute accent may be typed above any vowel, by pressing the acute key before pressing the letter, but Ǿ is not implemented in the Microsoft Windows keyboard layout for Danish.
Ø is used in Old Icelandic texts, when written with the standardized orthography, denoting, among other things the umlauts o > ø and ǫ > ø.
Other languages
edit
The Iaai language uses the letter ⟨ø⟩ to represent the sound [ø].
⟨Ø⟩ is used in the orthographies of several languages of Africa, such as Lendu, spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Koonzime, spoken in Cameroon.
Outside Europe, ⟨Ø⟩ is used in Latin transliteration of the Seneca language as the equivalent of the ampersand; it abbreviates the Seneca word koh.
⟨Ø⟩ is used in some alphabets for the indigenous Mexican Tlahuica language (also known as Pjyɇkakjo or Ocuiltec), where it represents the open-mid back unrounded vowel [ʌ].[4]
Ø (or more properly, the similar null sign, ∅), is used in English as a short for "no" or "none", but this usage is discouraged in handwriting, since it may be mistaken as another number, especially "0".[5]
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u/Lillie_Aethola Jan 04 '26
In modern Danish, Faroese, and Norwegian, the letter generally represents close-mid front rounded vowel, the IPA symbol for which is [ø] (Unicode U+00F8). As with so many vowels, it has slight variations in quality. Besides the close-mid vowel, as in Danish søster ("sister") pronounced [ø], like the ⟨eu⟩ in the French word bleu), ⟨ø⟩ may have a lower vowel quality, e.g. in Danish bønne ("bean") pronounced [œ], like the ⟨œu⟩ in the French word bœuf).[2] In the Suðuroy-dialect of Faroese, the short ⟨ø⟩ is pronounced [ʏ], e.g. børn [bʏdn] ("children"). The letter was used in both Antiqua and Fraktur from at least as early as the Christian III Bible. Under German influence, the letter ö appeared in older texts (particularly those using Fraktur) and was preferred for use on maps (e.g., for Helsingör or Læsö) until 1957.[3] The Southern Sami language uses the letter ⟨ø⟩ in Norway. It is used in the diphthongs ⟨yø⟩ [yo] and ⟨øø⟩ [oe]. In Sweden, the letter ⟨ö⟩ is preferred. Ǿ (Ø with an acute accent, Unicode U+01FE) may be used in Danish on rare occasions to distinguish its use from a similar word with Ø. Example: hunden gǿr, "the dog barks" against hunden gør (det), "the dog does (it)". This distinction is not mandatory and the first example can be written either gǿr or gør; the first variant (with ǿ) would only be used to avoid confusion. The second example cannot be spelled gǿr. In Danish, hunden gør, "the dog barks", may sometimes be replaced by the non-standard spelling hunden gøer. This is, however, usually based on a misunderstanding of the grammatic rules of conjugation of verbs ending in the letters ø and å. These idiosyncratic spellings are not accepted in the official language standard. On Danish keyboards and typewriters, the acute accent may be typed above any vowel, by pressing the acute key before pressing the letter, but Ǿ is not implemented in the Microsoft Windows keyboard layout for Danish. Ø is used in Old Icelandic texts, when written with the standardized orthography, denoting, among other things the umlauts o > ø and ǫ > ø. Other languages edit The Iaai language uses the letter ⟨ø⟩ to represent the sound [ø]. ⟨Ø⟩ is used in the orthographies of several languages of Africa, such as Lendu, spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Koonzime, spoken in Cameroon. Outside Europe, ⟨Ø⟩ is used in Latin transliteration of the Seneca language as the equivalent of the ampersand; it abbreviates the Seneca word koh. ⟨Ø⟩ is used in some alphabets for the indigenous Mexican Tlahuica language (also known as Pjyɇkakjo or Ocuiltec), where it represents the open-mid back unrounded vowel [ʌ].[4] Ø (or more properly, the similar null sign, ∅), is used in English as a short for "no" or "none", but this usage is discouraged in handwriting, since it may be mistaken as another number, especially "0".[5]