Why "e" Is the Most Common Letter in English — and the Hardest to Get Wrong

Quick fact: "e" appears in roughly 12% of all the letters you read in English. That frequency is exactly why type designers treat it so carefully — any awkwardness in its curve repeats constantly across a page, far more than in almost any other letter.

The history is more dramatic than you'd expect from something so common. It traces back to a Phoenician letter believed to depict a person with raised arms, possibly celebrating or calling out. The Greeks straightened it into "epsilon," and by the time medieval scribes rounded it out during the Carolingian Renaissance, "e" had become the bowl-plus-crossbar shape we still use.

That crossbar is where most design decisions live — its angle alone can shift the letter from clean and modern to warm and handwritten. Combine that with its aperture and counter, and "e" turns out to be one of the busiest letters in the alphabet, hiding behind the simplest silhouette. 🙌✍️ #TypeDesign #Typography #FontDesign

Read more: https://letterhanna.com/why-e-is-the-most-common-letter-in-english-and-the-hardest-to-get-wrong/