Page "False friend" Paragraph 25

An Old and Middle English letter has become a false friend in modern English: the letters thorn ( þ ) and eth ( ð ) were used interchangeably to represent voiced and voiceless dental fricatives now written in English as th ( as in " thick " and " the ").

Though the thorn character ( whose appearance was usually similar to the modern " p ") was most common, the eth could equally be used.

Due to its similarity to an oblique minuscule " y ", an actual " Y " is substituted in modern pseudo-old-fashioned usage as in " Ye Olde Curiositie Shoppe "; the first word means and should be pronounced " the ", not " ye " ( archaic form of " you ").