Esperanto dictionary order follows its own 28-letter alphabet, not the English alphabet and not raw computer character codes. The letters with diacritics are full letters in their own right: ĉ follows c, ĝ follows g, ĥ follows h, ĵ follows j, ŝ follows s, and ŭ follows u. That organization reflects the one-letter–one-sound system: a distinct letter represents a distinct sound and receives a distinct place.
Knowing the sequence lets you find words quickly, interpret printed indexes, and detect software that is sorting Esperanto incorrectly. It also prevents a common English-speaker mistake: treating the circumflex or breve as an optional accent that can be ignored.
The complete order
The standard order is:
| A a | B b | C c | Ĉ ĉ | D d | E e | F f |
| G g | Ĝ ĝ | H h | Ĥ ĥ | I i | J j | Ĵ ĵ |
| K k | L l | M m | N n | O o | P p | R r |
| S s | Ŝ ŝ | T t | U u | Ŭ ŭ | V v | Z z |
Esperanto has no native letters q, w, x, or y. They may occur in unadapted foreign names, quotations, symbols, and technical strings, but they are not inserted into the core alphabet. Notice also that Esperanto order goes directly from p to r; there is no q between them.
The names, sounds, and shapes of all 28 letters are introduced on the Esperanto alphabet. Here the concern is what their established sequence does in a lookup tool.
En la alfabeto, ĉ sekvas c sed antaŭas d.
In the alphabet, ĉ follows c but precedes d.
La literoj q, w, x kaj y ne apartenas al la Esperanta alfabeto.
The letters q, w, x, and y do not belong to the Esperanto alphabet.
Compare one letter at a time
Dictionary sorting compares the first letters. If they match, compare the second letters, and continue until a difference appears. At the first difference, the letter earlier in the Esperanto alphabet determines the earlier word. A shorter word precedes a longer one when every letter of the shorter word matches the beginning of the longer one.
En la vortaro, caro aperas antaŭ ĉaro.
In the dictionary, caro (tsar) appears before ĉaro (cart).
La vorto celo venas antaŭ ĉelo, ĉar c venas antaŭ ĉ.
The word celo (goal) comes before ĉelo (cell), because c comes before ĉ.
La vorto ĝardeno aperas post ĉiuj vortoj, kiuj komenciĝas per g.
The word ĝardeno (garden) appears after all words beginning with g.
La vorto juna staras antaŭ ĵurnalo en Esperanta listo.
The word juna (young) stands before ĵurnalo (newspaper) in an Esperanto list.
En ĝusta ordo ni skribas: sako, sama, ŝako, tablo.
In correct order we write: sako (bag), sama (same), ŝako (chess), tablo (table).
The contrast caro/ĉaro is not like English resume/résumé, where some indexes may ignore the marks. In Esperanto, c and ĉ are different letters and words containing them are placed in different alphabetic blocks. The same is true of all six pairs.
Capitalization normally does not change alphabetical position. Ĝoja and ĝoja belong under the same letter, though a particular directory may use secondary rules to decide which form comes first when two entries differ only in case.
Ĉu “Ĝoja” kaj “ĝoja” troviĝas en la sama alfabeta loko? Jes, ambaŭ komenciĝas per ĝ.
Are ‘Ĝoja’ and ‘ĝoja’ found in the same alphabetical place? Yes, both begin with ĝ.
Looking up inflected and derived words
Many Esperanto dictionaries organize entries by a base form or root. If you meet domojn, remove the transparent grammatical endings -j and -n and look for domo or the root dom-. If you meet malfeliĉa, a compact dictionary may lead you from mal- and feliĉ- to the meaning. Dictionary conventions differ, so read the front matter: one work may list a complete citation word, another a root with a slash, and a digital dictionary may index both.
Mi ne trovis “amikojn”, do mi serĉis la bazan formon “amiko”.
I did not find amikojn (friends, accusative), so I searched for the base form amiko (friend).
“Malfeliĉe” estas plej facile analizebla kiel mal-, feliĉ- kaj -e.
Malfeliĉe (unfortunately/unhappily) is most easily analyzed as mal-, feliĉ-, and -e.
This is where regular spelling pays off. Because ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ consistently represent their own sounds, you do not need to guess among multiple spellings of an ordinary Esperanto word. If you heard ŝipo, search under ŝ, not under s or an English-style “sh.”
Digital sorting and search
A database must request Esperanto-aware collation. A naive program may sort by Unicode code-point number, strip diacritics, or apply the user’s English locale; any of those can produce the wrong linguistic order. Unicode provides the correct characters, but Unicode storage alone does not guarantee correct collation.
Search is a separate operation from sorting. A well-designed Esperanto dictionary may accept sxipo as x-system input and redirect it to ŝipo, or ignore capitalization when searching. That convenience does not mean sx and ŝ are two alphabetic spellings. The displayed headword should use Unicode Esperanto.
Mi tajpis “sxipo” en la serĉilo, kaj ĝi montris la kapvorton “ŝipo”.
I typed sxipo in the search box, and it displayed the headword ŝipo (ship). (x-system input converted by the site)
Visually identical Unicode strings can also have different internal encodings: a precomposed ŝ and an s followed by a combining circumflex. Good software normalizes them before searching and sorting. For learners, the practical rule is simple: use a proper Esperanto keyboard or converter and keep the visible Unicode spelling intact.
The underlying storage issue is developed on Unicode normalization and search. Normalization may make equivalent encodings searchable; it must not collapse distinct letters such as s and ŝ.
Foreign names in a mixed list
There is no single foundational order for every foreign character because those characters are not members of the Esperanto alphabet. A practical directory may place q, w, x, and y in their familiar international Latin positions, group foreign accented letters with their base letters, and treat ligatures as their expanded sequences. Another catalog may preserve the collation rules of the source language.
Therefore, a publication should state its policy when foreign names matter. Within native Esperanto material, however, the 28-letter order is fixed and clear. Do not let the uncertainty around W or Y erase the firm distinction between s and ŝ.
Common Mistakes
1. Filing a diacritic letter as if it were the plain letter. This collapses distinct alphabet positions.
❌ ĉaro, caro, celo
Incorrect order — ĉ has been treated as a variant of c.
✅ caro, celo, ĉaro
Correct Esperanto alphabetical order.
2. Sorting by the English alphabet. English has no place for Esperanto’s distinct letters.
❌ sako, ŝako, sama
Incorrect order — ŝ has been mixed into the s words before the s block is complete.
✅ sako, sama, ŝako
Correct order — all s words precede the ŝ block.
3. Looking up an x-system code as though x were part of the word. Convert the input first.
❌ Mi serĉas “jxurnalo” sub la litero x.
Incorrect — jx is an input code for ĵ, and x is not a native Esperanto letter.
✅ Mi serĉas “ĵurnalo” sub la litero ĵ.
I look for ĵurnalo (newspaper) under the letter ĵ.
4. Importing English capitalization into dictionary entries. Ordinary Esperanto common nouns are lowercase.
❌ Mi serĉis la vorton “Ĝardeno” kiel ordinaran substantivon.
Incorrect convention — a common noun is not capitalized merely because it is a dictionary headword.
✅ Mi serĉis la vorton “ĝardeno” sub ĝ.
I looked for the word ĝardeno (garden) under ĝ.
Key Takeaways
- Use the 28-letter Esperanto order, with each diacritic letter immediately after its plain counterpart.
- Compare words letter by letter; capitalization normally does not alter their primary position.
- Look up inflected words through their base forms and use regular morphology to identify the root.
- Search tools may accept x-system input, but headwords and alphabetization use ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ.
- Mixed-language lists need an explicit policy for foreign letters; native Esperanto order does not.
Now practice Esperanto
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Start learning Esperanto →Related Topics
- The Esperanto AlphabetA1 — Learn Esperanto’s 28 letters, their names and order, and why the six diacritic letters count as letters in their own right.
- The Six Diacritic LettersA1 — Master ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, and ŭ as six independent Esperanto letters with distinct sounds and spelling roles.
- Foreign Names in EsperantoA2 — How to choose among full adaptation, partial adaptation, and original spelling while keeping names recognizable and usable.
- Unicode Normalization and SearchA2 — Why visually identical Esperanto letters can behave differently in software, and how to store and search them reliably.
- Roots and Grammatical EndingsA2 — See how Esperanto combines meaningful roots with noun, adjective, adverb, and verb endings to create usable words.