The character has its origins in the Middle Ages, and is the only one to have been created in Spain. Despite this, it was omitted from the Spanish Royal Academy dictionary until 1803.

There’s no español without ñ. Not to mention cañas. Ñ is the 15th letter in the Spanish alphabet and is used in more than 15,700 words. To mark April 23, the Day of the Book, which since 2003 has also been the Day of the Spanish Language, EL PAÍS retraces the history of this special letter and examines how it has become an icon of the Spanish language.

The letter ñ was first included in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) in 1803. But its origins stretch to the Middle Ages. Indeed, the letter appears in a text dating back to 1176.

Neither the sound or the letter ñ existed in Latin, but as the Latin language evolved and romantic languages such as Spanish, French and Italian began to appear, so too did the palatal nasal sound, which is articulated with the back of the tongue raised to the hard palate.

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