Why is Y between X and Z?

Question

because I have always pondered on why

Answer 1

It is there because a government agency long ago spent substantial sums of money hiring specialists (who just happened to be contributors to the majority party at the time) and was required, after several years, to report back to the legislature their results. The position of y was established from their report.

Answer 2

Modern English

In Modern English orthography, thorn (þ), eth (Ð), wynn (Ƿ) and yogh (Ȝ) are obsolete. Thorn and eth are now both represented by th, though thorn continued in existence for some time, its lower case form gradually becoming graphically indistinguishable from the minuscule y in most handwritings. Y for th can still be seen in pseudo-archaisms such as Ye Olde Booke Shoppe. The letters Þ and Ð are still used in present-day Icelandic. Wynn disappeared from English around the 14th century when it was supplanted by uu, which ultimately developed into the modern w. Yogh disappeared around the 15th century and was typically replaced by gh.

The letters u and j, as distinct from v and i, were introduced in the 16th century, and w assumed the status of an independent letter, so that the English alphabet is now considered to consist of the following 26 letters:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The variant lower-case form long s (Å¿) lasted into early modern English, and was used in non-final position up to the early nineteenth century.

The ligatures Æ (æ) and Œ (œ) mentioned earlier are still used in formal writing for certain words of Greek or Latin origin, such as "encyclopædia" and "cœlom". Lack of awareness combined with technological limitations (the QWERTY-format keyboard commonly used in typography does not have keys representing either ligature) has made it common to see these two letters rendered as "ae" and "oe" respectively in modern, non-academic usage. These ligatures are not used in American English (and related variants), where, for the most part, a lone "e" has supplanted both "ae" (as in the aforementioned spelling "encyclopedia") and "oe" (e.g., "fetus" instead of "foetus.")

Answer 3

Y is the joker in the pack in most western European languages. It can be consonant or vowel. The Germans call it 'ypsilon' which is the Greek name for the letter. The French call it y-greque (pronounced ee-greck) which means Greek 'i'. Why we call the letter 'y' why in English is a question which possibly only Welsh-speaking people can explain.

Answer 4

Y D U need 2 know?

Answer 5

It is because and will always be the correct form in which to tell someone that their zipper is down.

Answer 6

Cos that's the way the alphabet goes

Answer 7

if it was X between Y and Z, you might still be asking the same question; "Why is X between Y and Z?"...!!

It's just the way it was made

Answer 8

So that you (u) could be placed between T and V !!


Touche

Answer 9

Because we x-pect Z Y to B there.

Answer 10

Because it is.