Ĥ

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

Esperanto
Language Grammar · Phonology Orthography · Vocabulary Etymology
History Zamenhof · Proto-Esperanto Unua Libro · Fundamento Declaration of Boulogne Manifesto of Rauma Montevideo Resolution Prague Manifesto Modern evolution of Esperanto
Culture and media Esperantist · Esperantujo · Film La Espero · Libraries Literature · Music Native speakers Pop culture references Publications · Symbols Zamenhof Day Profanity
National associations Australia · Britain British Youth · British Labour Canada · Quebec · USA
Organizations and services Amikeca Reto · Kurso de Esperanto Esperanto Academy · Encyclopedia Pasporta Servo · TEJO · UEA · SAT Plouézec Meetings · World Congress Youth Congress · European Youth Week Panamerican Congress Skolta Esperanto Ligo
Criticism Gender Esperantido · Reformed vs. Ido · vs. Interlingua · vs. Novial
Related topics Auxiliary language Constructed language Ido · Interlingua · Novial Occidental · Volapük Anationalism
Wikimedia Portal · Task force · Esperanto Wikipedia (Vikipedio) Vikivortaro · Vikicitaro · Vikifontaro Vikilibroj · Vikikomunejo Vikispecoj · Vikinovaĵoj
v d e

Ĥ, or ĥ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing a voiceless velar fricative [x] or voiceless uvular fricative [χ]. Its name in Esperanto is ĥo (pronounced /xo/).

In the case of the minuscule, some fonts place the circumflex centred above the entire base letter h, others over the riser of the letter, and others over the shoulder.

ĥ in the fonts Code2000, Sylfaen, Pragmatika Esperanto

Since printers often lacked type for ĥ, L. L. Zamenhof allowed the use of hh as a surrogate. Hx is also used unofficially (there is no confusion, as the letter x is not used in Esperanto).

Reported demise

Ĥ was always the least used Esperanto letter/sound (though it usually has more dictionary entries than ĵ), and most of its uses are in Greek etyms, where it replaced chi. Since the latter sounds [k] in most languages, soon appeared “neologism” equivalents with "ĥ" replaced by "k", such as teĥniko → tekniko, ĥemio → kemio, etc. (Other ĥ-replacements followed unusual patterns, such as Ĥino → Ĉino.)

These additions and replacements come very early and were fully installed by World War I and since then the imminent demise of ĥ is a frequent topic, although it has never really happened. There are very few modern ĥ-replacements, notably koruso, for ĥoro ("chorus"). Some ĥ-words for which a replacement (old or new) exists are however usually preferred, such as ĥaoso.

Several words commonly use ĥ, particularly those of non-Greek etymology (ĥano, ĥoto, Liĥtenŝtejno, etc.) or those in which there is another word that uses "k" in that context. (For example, eĥo ("echo"), ĉeĥo ("Czech") or ĥoro ("chorus") are distinguished from eko ("beginning"), ĉeko ("bank check") and koro ("heart") - and horo ("hour").

An Italian italo disco singer from the 80s had the ĥ in his stage name "Cĥato".^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Ĉ
• Ĝ
• Ĵ
• Ŝ
• Ŭ
• Hamiltonian (quantum mechanics)

This Esperanto-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v d e