Letra
From Latin littera
A letra (letter) is the figure or sign used to represent a sound of a language.
Examples
- Casas ("houses") has 5 letters: C-a-s-a-s.
- Niño ("boy / child") has 4 letters: N-i-ñ-o. (the ñ counts as a single letter)
- Llama ("llama" or "flame") has 5 letters: L-l-a-m-a. (the ll is two letters)
- Chocolate ("chocolate") has 9 letters: C-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e. (the ch is two letters)
Note
Spanish has a few letters English does not have: the ñ (as in niño, "child") and — until a 1995 reform — the digraphs ch and ll were counted as single letters. Today ch and ll are counted as two letters each, but they still represent a single sound.