Ě

The grapheme Ě, ě (E with háček) is used in the Czech alphabet.

The letter ě is a vestige of Old-Czech palatalization. The originally palatalizing phoneme /ě/ IPA| [ʲɛ] became extinct, changing to IPA| [ɛ] or IPA| [jɛ] , but it is preserved as a grapheme.

This letter never appears in the initial position, and its pronunciation depends on the preceding consonant:
* "Dě, tě, ně" IPA| [ɟɛ, cɛ, ɲɛ] is written instead of ďe, ťe, ňe (analogically to di, ti, ni).
* "Bě, pě, vě, fě" is written instead of "bje, pje, vje, fje". But in some words ("vjezd", entry, drive-in, "objem", volume), "bje, vje" is written because "–je-" is preceded by prefixes "v-" or "ob-" in such cases.
* "Mě" IPA| [mɲɛ] is written instead of "mňe". For etymological reasons, "mně" is written in some words ("jemný", soft -> "jemně", softly).

ee also

*Czech orthography
*Czech phonology