Au (digraph)

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au is a digraph that occurs in many languages.

Contents 1 In English 2 Icelandic 3 French 4 In other languages

[edit] In English

In English, au represents the /ɔ/ or /a/ (see caught-cot merger) sound in faun. In some varieties of English, including many varieties of North American English, Scottish English and Irish English this vowel is merged with the /ɑ/ or /ɒ/ vowel in "hot". In Middle English, the digraph was pronounced as the diphthong /au/.

[edit] Icelandic

In Icelandic <au> stands for [œy].

[edit] French

In Modern French, au is pronounced /o/ and may or may not be the same phoneme as the one attached to the letter o.

It is used as a rare plural for old words having a singular in -al, like “cheval” (horse) or “canal” (channel), respectively having a plural in “chevaux and “canaux”—the x here being the mark of plural. Consider the English “child”, which also changes in plural form (children)

But Au is also a word by itself: the preposition at when preceding a masculine substantive (“au marché”—at the marketplace).

[edit] In other languages

In most other languages, this digraph makes the [au] diphthong or something similar. In German, au represents [aʊ] as in Haus (house), and äu represents [oʏ] as in Häuser (houses).

v • d • e Latin alphabet
Digraphs	Aa aa Ae ae Ai ai Au au Aw aw Ay ay Bh bh Ch ch Ck ck Cö cö Cs cs Cu cu Cz cz Dd dd Dh dh Dj dj Dx dx Dz dz Dž dž Dź dź Dż dż Ea ea Ee ee Ei ei Eu eu Ew ew Ey ey Ff ff Fh fh Gb gb Gh gh Għ għ Gi gi Gj gj Gn gn Gy gy Hs hs Hu hu Ie ie IJ ij Jö jö Kh kh Kp kp Ku ku Lh lh Lj lj Ll ll Ly ly Mb mb Mh mh Mp mp Nd nd Ng ng Nh nh Nj nj Nk nk Ns ns Nt nt Ny ny Nz nz Oa oa Oe oe Oi oi Oo oo Ou ou Ow ow Oy oy Ph ph Qu qu Rd rd Rh rh Rl rl Rn rn Rr rr Rt rt Rz rz Sh sh Sv sv Sy sy Sz sz Th th Tj tj Tr tr Ts ts Tx tx Ty ty Tz tz Ue ue Ui ui Vh vh Wh wh Xh xh Xö xö Yh yh Yk yk Zh zh Zs zs Zv zv
Trigraphs	C'h c'h Dzs dzs Eau eau Ngb ngb Ngh ngh Ngk ngk Nkp nkp Nth nth Nyk nyk Rnd rnd Sch sch
Tetragraphs	Eeuw eeuw Ieuw ieuw Ough ough