The Scottish Gaelic alphabet contains 18 letters, five of which are vowels. The letters are (vowels in bold):
The five vowels also appear with grave accents, the absence or presence of which can change the meaning of a word drastically as in bàta (a boat) versus bata (a stick):
The acute accent is also used on some vowels:
Since the 1980s the acute accent has not been used in Scottish high school examination papers, and many publishers have adopted the Scottish Qualifications Authority's orthographic conventions for their books.[1] The acute accent is still used in most Scottish universities (and several Scottish academics remain vociferously opposed to the SEB's conventions) and by a minority of Scottish publishers, as well as in Canada.
It is also increasingly common to see other Latin letters in loanwords, including v and z, etc.
The alphabet is known as the aibidil in Scottish Gaelic, and formerly the Beith Luis Nuin from the first three letters of the Ogham alphabet: b, l, n.
The letters were traditionally named after trees and other plants. Some of the names differ from their modern equivalents (e.g. dair > darach, suil > seileach).
| ailm elm | beith white birch | coll hazel | dair oak | eadha aspen | feàrn alder |
| gort ivy | uath hawthorn | iogh yew | luis rowan | muin vine | nuin ash |
| onn furze / oir spindle | peith downy birch | ruis elder | suil willow | teine furze | ura heather |
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