&

Interestingly, the ampersand— & – was once a letter – the 27^th – in the alphabet. The ampersand dates back to the Roman Republic when scribes used the letters “et” for the word “and.” After centuries of writing, the “e” and “t” were combined into the ampersand. Well into the 1800s students were reciting the alphabet and after the letter Z they would say “and per se and.” Per se was Latin for “by itself” and over the years the four words slurred until we ended up with ampersand. The ampersand was abandoned as a letter in the alphabet in the 19^th Century. https://www.authormasterminds.com/steve-levi