L is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet. Its name in English is el ()."L" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "el," op. cit. History The letter L is derived ultimately from the Semitic crook or goad which stood for . This originally may have been based on an Egyptian hieroglyph that was adapted by Semites for alphabetic purposes. The Greek letter Lambda ? (upper case) or ? (lower case), as well as the equivalent Etruscan and Latin letters, represent the same sound as the Semitic letter. In reference, it is spelled el or ell. Pronunciation In English, L can have several values, depending on whether it occurs before or after a vowel. The alveolar lateral approximant (the sound which the IPA uses the lowercase to re